
Book . Gf4 



PUBLIC EDUCATION IN 
KENTUCKY 



A REPORT BY THE 

KENTUCKY EDUCATIONAL 

COMMISSION 



GENERAL EDUCATION BOARD 

61 Broadway New Yokk 

1921 






PUBLIC EDUCATION 
IN KENTUCKY 



PUBLIC EDUCATION 
IN KENTUCKY 



A REPORT BY THE 

KENTUCKY EDUCATIONAL 

COMMISSION 



PREPARED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF 

THE COMMISSION 
BY THE (JENERAL EDUCATION BOARD 



GENERAL EDUCATION BOARD 

6l BROADWAY NEW YORK 

I92I 






LiBflARY OF congress' 
RECEIVED 

JUN801922 

DOCUMENTS D«Vi3»0 



(> CONTENTS 

M^ PAGE 

(^ILetter of Transmittal v 

PART I. PRESENT CONDITION OF SCHOOLS 

I. Public Education in Kentucky ... 3 

11. State Organization and Administration 7 

III. Local Organization AND Administration 26 

IV. Teachers 52 

V. Buildings, Grounds, and Equipment . 71 

VI. The Elementary School Term and 

Course op Study . ' 86 

VII. Pupil Progress and Instruction ... 98 

VIII. High Schools 118 

IX. School Finances . 132 

PART II. NEEDED IMPROVEMENTS 

X. Better State Organization and Ad- 
ministration 149 

XL Better Local Organization and Ad- 
ministration 156 

XII. Better Trained Teachers .... 169 

XIII. Better Financial Support .... 190 

Appendix 203 



• LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL 

Honorable Edwin P. Morrow 

Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky 

Frankfort, Kentucky 
The legislature of Kentucky in 1920 enacted a law 

providing for a state educational survey. This law is as 

follows : 

- I. That the Governor be, and is hereby authorized and 
empowered to appoint a commission of five persons, to make a 
survey of the public educational system of the State, including 
all schools and educational institutions supported in whole or in 
part by public taxation, for the sake of determining the efficiency 
of their work, and to report its findings, with recommendations 
for improvement, to the Governor. 

- 2. It shall be the duty of said commission to employ ex- 
perts, not residents of Kentucky, to make a thorough survey 
of the school system of the State as to organization, co-ordi- 
nation, administration and general efficiency, and to conduct 
such survey in accordance with approved scientific standards of 
educational research. 

- 3. That the members of said commission shall serve with- 
out pay, except actual expenses incurred in the discharge of 
their duties. Said commission is hereby authorized and empow- 
ered to purchase such supplies and employ such clerical help in 
addition to the expert service hereinbefore provided, as may be 
necessary for the proper discharge of its duty within the limita- 
tion herein prescribed. 

- 4. That the commission and its employees shall be accorded 
free access to all public records. All persons having charge of 
any schools or educational institutions supported wholly or in 
part by public funds shall furnish all the information available 
and render all the assistance possible in making the survey com- 
plete, and any person who wilfully withholds records or informa- 
tion within lus possession or obstructs the work of the commis- 



vi LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL 

sion in any way, shall be fined in any sum not less than one 
hundred dollars or more than five hundred dollars in any court 
of competent jurisdiction. 

- 5. That there is hereby appropriated out of any money 
in the treasury not otherwise appropriated the sum of ten 
thousand dollars or as much thereof as may be necessary, for the 
purpose of defraying the expense of the survey herelay pro- 
posed. 

- 6. That on account of the pressing need for an early re- 
organization of the school system of the State, an emergency 
is hereby declared to exist and this law shall take effect from and 
after its passage and approval by the Governor. 

In accord with the provisions of this law, you ap- 
pointed an Educational Survey Commission composed 
of the following five members: W. A. Ganfield, President 
of Centre College, Danville; Alex. G. Barret, lawyer, 
member of the Louisville Board of Education, Louis- 
ville; J. L. Harman, President of Bowling Green Univer- 
sity, BowHng Green; C. J. Haydon, President of the 
Springfield Board of Education, Springfield; Miss Katie 
McDaniel, insurance, formerly County Superintendent 
of Christian County, Hopkinsville. The Commission 
organized May 11, 1920, electing Dr. Ganfield chairman, 
and Mr. Barret secretary. 

Pursuant to the provisions of section 2 of the enact- 
ment, the Commission secured the assistance of the 
General Education Board of New York City in making 
the survey. The General Education Board furnished 
to the Commission the services of the following staff: 
Dr. Frank P. Bachman, local director, Frank L. Shaw, 
statistician, and Miss Anna C. Thornblum, secretary. 
Dean M. E. Haggerty, College of Education, University 
of Minnesota, advised on the testing program. 



LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL vii 

The State of Kentucky appropriated the sum of 
$10,000, of which $8,000 was used in part payment of the 
expenses of field work, and $1,000 in part payment of 
printing the report. In addition to providing the survey 
staff, the General Education Board contributed the 
sum of $15,000. 

Fifteen months were devoted to the survey. During 
this time Dr. Bachman visited sixty-six counties and 
made a careful study of the conditions in thirty-three 
of them, and also studied conditions in about half of the 
principal cities of the state. He had the active co-op- 
eration of the educators of Kentucky, including repre- 
sentatives from the faculties of the colleges, normal 
schools, and the University of Kentucky, members of the 
state department of education, and county and city 
superintendents. 

Standard tests or examinations were given to the 
school children in nine representative counties and in 
fifteen cities. Fifteen thousand seven hundred pupils 
were examined in the fifth, seventh, and eighth grades, 
and nearly 59,000 test papers were marked and the 
results tabulated. Data on pupil progress were col- 
lected from these same nine counties, and from 222 graded 
school districts and 47 cities, or from a total of 136,828 
children. Information was collected on the training 
of 11,712 of the 13,563 teachers, or 86 per cent, of the 
total number. 

Questionnaires were sent to all city superintendents, 
graded school principals, and county superintendents, 



viii LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL 

asking for information on school finances, length of school 
day and term, consolidated schools, provisions for super- 
vision, attendance officers, medical inspection, school 
nurses, office equipment, and clerical assistance. Infor- 
mation of many kinds was also collected from the records 
of the state department of education, school laws, and 
other sources. 

The Commission desires to acknowledge with sincere 
appreciation and gratitude the generous professional and 
financial assistance of the General Education Board. 
We further record our grateful acknowledgment of the 
helpful counsel and advice of Dr. Wallace Buttrick, 
President of the General Education Board, and of Dr. 
Abraham Flexner, Secretary of the Board. Dr. Flex- 
ner also gave liberally of his time in perfecting the 
report, and made several visits to the state to counsel 
with the survey staff and the Commission. 

We would further express appreciation of the splendid 
co-operation and helpful service rendered by the Hon. 
George Colvin, State Superintendent of Pubhc Instruc- 
tion, and Dr. John W. Carr, Director of Health Educa- 
tion. 

Members of the Commission have served without pay, 
being reimbursed only for the actual expenses involved 
in the discharge of their duties. The $i,ooo reserved 
for this purpose will more than provide for their expenses. 

The Commission has not outlined plans or recom- 
mendations that are impossible of attainment. The 
suggestions and recommendations offered are practicable 



■ LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL ix 

and within reach. We venture to hope that the find- 
ings of this survey will aid the citizens and the legisla- 
ture of the Commonwealth in providing a school system 
that will ultimately afford to all the children of the state 
"the power that knowledge gives." 

Very respectfully, 
(Signed) W. A. Ganfield, Chairman . 

Alex. G. Barret 

J. L. Harman 

C. J. Haydon 

Katie McDaniel 



PART I 

PRESENT CONDITION OF SCHOOLS 

CHAPTERS I-IX 



Public Education in Kentucky 

I. PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

EDUCATION is the sole hope of democracy. "A 
popular government," wrote James Madison, 
"without popular information, or the means of 
acquiring it, is but the prologue to a farce or a tragedy, 
or probably both. A people who mean to be their own 
governors must arm themselves with the power that 
knowledge gives . ' ' 

How well has Kentucky armed itself "with the power 
that knowledge gives? " 

Dr. Leonard P. Ayres, one of the foremost authorities 
in the field of public education, has recently published a 
comparative study of the ef&ciency of state school 
systems. According to Dr. Ayres, Kentucky ranked 
thirty-fifth in 1890, thirty-sixth in 1900, fortieth in 19 10, 
and forty-fifth in 191 8. That is, during the last four 
decades Kentucky has steadily fallen behind, when com- 
pared with the other states and territories. In ilHteracy 
Kentucky ranked thirty-sixth in 1900, in 1910, and in 
1920. 

What is the explanation? Physically, the state is 
highly favored. Of its 40,000 square miles, 10,000 are 

3 



4 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

surpassed in fertility by no other land either in America 
or Europe; 22,000 more, not quite equal to the best, are 
still excellent; only about 7,000 square miles are of in- 
ferior quaHty. "It is doubtful," writes Shaler, "if an 
equally good showing can be made for any other state in 
the Mississippi Valley, and there are few regions in the 
world where so large an area with so little waste land can 
be found." Coal, iron, and stone abound. The eastern 
coal district, "somewhat less valuable than that of 
Pennsylvania, is exceeded in value by that of no other 
state." The deposits of iron ore are outranked only by 
those of five or six other states. Thus the state is admi- 
rably adapted to agriculture and is liberally endowed 
with fuel, iron, and stone. 

Not the niggardliness of nature, but the mischance of 
history holds the state back. Peopled in the first in- 
stance by emigrants from Virginia, the state inherited 
the slave-holding system. Social organization was 
distinctly aristocratic. Manual toil was stigmatized. 
Kentuckians were generally engaged in activities that 
needed little capital and gave little employment or out- 
look to white labor. The coal and iron lay untouched 
below the soil, and emigration passed Kentucky by. 
Even to-day the conservatism of the state discourages 
well-trained, progressive, and adventurous youth. The 
handicaps under which Kentucky suffers and has suffered 
are man-made and can be removed by men. 

Poor education is the inevitable result of the conditions 
described. The political leaders of ante-bellum Kentucky 





Oldest Type of One-Room Rural SchooHiouses 



PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 5 

were, not thinking of a whole state peopled by a vigorous 
and industrious race armed with the power that knowl- 
edge gives. An excellent Anglo-Saxon stock thus largely 
lost, as far as public education is concerned, the first 
century of its history. Public schools got but a feeble 
start; higher education, until very recent years well- 
nigh ignored by the state, was provided by a few small 
colleges, which, invaluable to the students attending 
them, were entirely inadequate to meet the situation. 
The general level of education was thus low, and an ill- 
educated population neither desires education keenly 
nor does it produce the wealth needed to support the 
schools on which the hope of better things depends. Thus 
social sluggishness accounts for the defects of the school 
system; and an inferior school system prolongs the 
period of social and industrial inertia. 

Fortunately there is evidence that a movement in the 
right direction has started. Public interest in education 
is being aroused and various organizations are demand- 
ing higher standards and better conditions. This new 
interest found expression in the enlightened and progres- 
sive educational legislation of 1920. These measures, 
supported by both parties, provided, among other things, 
for the election of county boards of education by the 
people, for an increase of mandatory county taxes, for 
better school attendance, and for the state certification 
of teachers. Already the sums available for the common 
schools have greatly increased, rising from $8,309,000 
for current expenses in 1917-1918 to about $10^000,000 



6 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

in 1920-192 1. There has apparently been a correspond- 
ing improvement in school attendance. 

Fundamental social changes are coming about. The 
old order, which began to disintegrate after the Civil 
War, has now practically disappeared; modern demo- 
cratic conceptions of social and industrial organization 
are in the air. They have not yet completely and se- 
curely established themselves; they are far from dominat- 
ing the political and educational policy of the state; but 
they have found a voice and will assuredly prevail. The 
present survey, made at the instance of the constituted 
authorities, with the support of the progressive leaders 
of the state, is a contribution to this end. 

The report endeavors to depict fairly and thoroughly 
the educational conditions in the state. It will describe 
the existing organization and, building upon progress 
recently made, will suggest the next steps that are at the 
moment desirable and feasible. It is futile to discuss 
ideals. An educational Utopia cannot be brought 
about in Kentucky at once. At most measures can be 
taken which, themselves an improvement, will facilitate 
advance. That done, the rest will have to be left to the 
patient effort and devoted self-sacrifice of successive 
generations. 



II. STATE ORGANIZATION AND 
ADMINISTRATION 

KENTUCKY entered the Union in 1792; not until 
1908 did the laws of the state actually require all 
■ local units to establish schools and levy taxes 
for their maintenance. So recently have the people of 
the state realized the full importance of public education 
in a democracy ! 

The slow movement which thus culminated a dozen 
years ago may be briefly sketched. Very early in its 
history, public lands were appropriated for the establish- 
ment of seminaries and colleges. No distinction was 
made between public and private institutions — the state 
gave impartially to both — and no thought was taken at 
this time of the prior importance of common schools. 
These were first legally recognized in 1838. The state 
had received — like other states — a gift from the federal 
government; it undertook to apportion the income from 
$850,000 — something over one-half its share — to com- 
mon schools; but it did not undertake to require, to 
support, or to supervise public education. 

The constitution of 1850 declared the principal of the 
common school fund to be inviolate, but laid upon the 
general assembly no mandate to establish schools. The 

7 



8 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

general assembly therefore consistently declined to levy 
taxes for school purposes. Nevertheless, on four differ- 
ent occasions — in 1849, 1855, 1869, and 1882 — the people 
by large majorities approved successive propositions to 
levy state taxes for school purposes. Thus, the income 
of the common schools was increased by popularly im- 
posed levies, amounting in the aggregate to twenty-two 
cents on each $100 of taxable property. 

The mandate requiring the general assembly to 
"provide for an ej6&cient system of common schools 
throughout the state" and to appropriate to the com- 
mon schools the income from the common school fund 
and any sum which may be produced for purposes of 
common school education by taxation or otherwise, first 
appeared in the constitution of 1891. Even so, the 
general assembly on its own initiative and without a 
direct mandate from the people did not levy a dol- 
lar of public taxes in support of public schools until 
1904^ — thirteen years after being empowered to do so. 
Not until 1893 did the statute books contain a single line 
of legislation actually requiring the establishment of 
schools and the levying of local taxes in support thereof, 
and not until 1908 was this mandatory legislation made 
general for all local units. 

The legislation of 1893 and 1908 transformed a volun- 



^ There is one possible exception to this statement. The general 
assembly of its own accord levied in 1880 a tax of one-half of one cent on 
each $100 of assessed value of property for the support of the Agricultural 
and Mechanical College. 





iriiree- Window Rural Schoolhouses, Without Porch or Cloakroom 



STATE ORGANIZATION 9 

tary into a compulsory system, and thus registered an 
entirely new conception of the state's relation to public 
education. Prior to 1893 every community decided for 
itself by majority vote whether or not a public school 
should be established. Nowadays not only common 
schools, but also high schools, must be maintained. Simi- 
larly, the community used to decide by vote whether 
or not it would levy a local school tax; nowadays local 
school taxes must be levied up to a fixed minimum. 
Then, any kind of schoolhouse might be built; now, only 
such schoolhouses may be erected as are approved by the 
superintendent of public instruction. Then, state school 
funds might be expended for any school purpose; these 
may now be expended only for the payment of teachers' 
salaries, and all expenditures, irrespective of whether the 
fimds are derived from local or from state taxation, are 
subject to inspection by the superintendent of pubHc 
instruction or his agents. Formerly, parents might send 
their children to school or not, as they pleased; now they 
must send them, under penalty of law, for the full time the 
schools are in session. The trustees used to certificate 
the teachers for their respective schools; now teachers 
are certificated by a state board of examiners.^ The 
trustees likewise used to fix the length of term; it must 
now be at least six months, and the statute looks for- 
ward to further extensions. The trustees formerly 
selected the textbooks; a state commission now selects 



^A few state and approved private higher institutions, as well as city 
boards of education, are also authorized to certificate teachers. 



lo PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

them. They prescribed the course of study; this is now 
prepared by the state board of education. The state 
board of education also prescribes general rules and 
regulations for the government of all schools, and the 
superintendent of public instruction is empowered to see 
that they are observed. 

The options originally exercised by local authorities 
have thus been abolished, and most of their former 
powers transferred to the state board of education, the 
superintendent of public instruction, or other state 
boards or officials. Obviously, if these large powers are 
to be effective, the central educational authority would 
have to be reorganized accordingly. It must be so 
equipped as to exercise intelligently the functions with 
which it has been lately endowed. But this has not 
been done. Though the duties and responsibilities of 
the state department have become vastly greater, the 
department remains to-day substantially what it was 
when its duties and responsibilities were nominal. 

STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 

The schools of Kentucky — elementary and high — are 
organized as a single system, over which preside a state 
board of education and a superintendent of public in- 
struction. These officials deal with educational matters 
of general interest to the people of the state. Similarly, 
the public schools of a county, exclusive of those of 
graded and city school districts, form a subordinate 
local system, presided over by a county board of educa- 



STATE ORGANIZATION ii 

tion, which deals with educational matters of particular 
interest to the county. Two other subordinate and 
local systems — the graded school districts and the cities 
. — are independent of the county system, though a part 
of the state system. Boards of trustees or boards of 
education have charge of the schools in the respective 
graded school or city school districts. The central 
authority is meant to give unity to the educational effort 
of the state; the local authority is meant to promote 
local interest, pride, and initiative. 

Kentucky's state board of education was created in 
1838, and was then and still is composed of ex officio 
members — the secretary of state, the attorney-general, 
and the superintendent of public instruction. Its com- 
position is unfortunate, and its powers have never been 
such as to enable it to make itself effective. It is au- 
thorized to hold funds and property for the benefit of the 
common schools; prescribe rules and regulations for the 
government of the schools; make courses of study; and 
recommend suitable books for district libraries. But 
these duties are largely nominal. There are, for exam- 
ple, no funds or property to hold; and prescribing rules 
and regulations for the government of the schools, courses 
of study, and lists of suitable books for district Hbraries 
are technical matters in which an ex officio board has 
taken and could take only a perfunctory or ineffectual 
interest. 

In dealing with the state board of education, the legis- 
lature has not pursued a consistent policy. At one time 



12 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

the general assembly confers powers, at another takes 
them away. For example, until 1852 the state board 
participated in the distribution of the common school 
fund, but this function was thereafter exercised by the 
state superintendent and the state auditor. Between 
1852 and 1893 the board recommended textbooks for use 
in the common schools, but was thereafter entirely re- 
lieved of this duty. Similarly, the board for many years 
prescribed blanks and forms for all school records and 
reports, but in 1893 this authority was transferred to the 
state superintendent. 

Meanwhile other boards have been created to share or 
altogether take over functions that properly belong to a 
state board of education. To illustrate: The state 
board of education prescribes rules and regulations gov- 
erning high school certificates; issues high school certifi- 
cates to graduates of higher institutions within and 
without the state; grants certificating powers to private 
institutions doing teacher-training work of a satisfactory 
grade; extends, for life, certificates of teachers having 
twenty years of experience. Yet the real power of cer- 
tification is vested in the state board of examiners, 
which is practically an independent body. 

Again, a properly organized state board of education 
would supervise teacher-training institutions, handle 
all matters concerning vocational education, and select 
textbooks for the public schools; but Kentucky, splitting 
up its educational administration, possesses four differ- 
ent boards of normal school regents; a state board of 



STATE ORGANIZATION 13 

vocational education, which includes the members of the 
state board of education, created as recently as 1918; and 
an independent state textbook commission, created in 
1 9 14 to select textbooks. 

But whatever its powers, an ex officio state board of 
education cannot be effective. A man elected to one 
office may not have the interest and seldom has the time 
requisite to the performance of an entirely different set of 
duties. The secretary of state and the attorney-general 
may, as members of the state board of education, give 
the state superintendent casual assistance, but they 
have their own special tasks for the performance of 
which they are responsible to the people, and these will 
and should receive their first attention. Moreover, they 
know that in the long run the people hold the superin- 
tendent of public instruction responsible for the conduct 
of the schools, and they cannot make themselves an- 
swerable for his administration. 

The political character of the board also prevents it 
from assuming a position of influence. Each of its 
members is nominated by a political party, elected by 
party vote, and is expected to be loyal to party interests. 
Under these circumstances, whatever they do, they are 
likely to be regarded as partisan. Perhaps this fact, as 
much as lack of public sentiment, explains the reluc- 
tance of the general assembly to entrust to the board 
duties and functions that properly belong to it, and ac- 
counts for the creation of other boards — such as boards 
of normal school regents, state board of examiners, state 



14 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

textbook commission, state board of vocational educa- 
tion, etc. — ^which divide both authority and responsibil- 
ity and render effective administration impossible. 

Again, the state board has, since 1891, lacked con- 
tinuity. Every four years sees a complete change in 
personnel, and with it at least the possibility of a 
complete change in educational policies. A new 
administration comes into office without plans or 
poHcies of its own, and as a rule goes out before policies 
and plans can be developed. The public schools of the 
state have thus been left to drift. No official is in posi- 
tion to propose to the legislature or the people a poHcy 
which looks ahead over a space of years ; chaos and back- 
wardness are the inevitable consequences. 

The present situation as respects the state board may 
be summarized as follows: The state board has recently 
assumed large educational responsibilities, financial and 
supervisory, and is without any proper agency to meet 
them. The state board of education is impotent because 
of its political complexion, its ex officio composition, and 
its short tenure. The state should have a properly con- 
stituted board, invested with proper powers — including 
those now exercised by the normal school regents, the 
state textbook commission, state board, of examiners, 
and vocational education board. The state can neither 
form nor pursue a coherent educational poHcy in any 
other way. The consolidation suggested would ob- 
viously create a strong educational department at 
Frankfort; but, as will appear from suggestions to be 



STATE ORGANIZATION 15 

made as we proceed, local units will retain all the powers 
and all the opportunity that they need. 

STATE TEXTBOOK COMMISSION 

The work of the boards created to share functions 
properly belonging to a state board of education will be 
discussed in other connections. By way of illustrating 
the situation a brief account will be given here of the 
state textbook commission. 

The state has tried almost every conceivable way of 
selecting textbooks for rural schools.^ Up to 1852 
selection was left to parents, in consequence of which 
there were almost as many textbooks in a school as 
there were children. Since 1852 six different methods 
of selection have been in vogue: (i) Between 1852 and 
1873, selection by the district trustees for their respective 
schools from lists recommended by the state board of 
education; (2) from 1873 to 1893, selection by the county 
board of examiners and the county superintendent from 
lists recommended by the state board of education; 
(3) from 1893 to 1904, selection by the county board of 
examiners freed from all state restrictions ; (4) from 1904 
to 1910, selection by a county textbook commission from 
a single list agreed upon between the several county 
textbook commissions and a state textbook commis- 
sion; (5) between 1910 and 19 14, reversion to the 



^In general, the selection of textbooks for graded and city school dis- 
tricts has consistently remained in the hands of the respective boards of 
trustees or boards of education. 



i6 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

county textbook commission freed from all state re- 
strictions, practically the method in vogue from 1904 
to 1910; (6) since 1914 there has been a single list for all 
rural schools prepared by the state textbook commission. 
With all these attempts, no satisfactory method has 
yet been devised for selecting textbooks for rural schools. 
There is widespread opposition to a single state com- 
pulsory list, and it is said to be a matter of common 
knowledge that there was corruption in the last state 
adoption. This zig-zag experience, capricious changing 
from one kind of machinery to another without genuine 
improvement, is fairly typical of the state's educational 
history. Nothing could more clearly illustrate the 
chaos that results from the absence of trained and con- 
tinuous leadership. The problem of textbook selection 
is in itself not difficult. A properly constituted state 
board of education would, as we shall in a moment see, 
have as its executive officer a state superintendent. The 
state superintendent, in co-operation with representative 
educators chosen by himself, would form a textbook com- 
mission. The commission would prepare a list of text- 
books, containing four or five suitable texts in each 
subject, fix the retail price of the same with the pub- 
lishers, and present the list to the state board of education 
for adoption, the state board having the right to reject 
textbooks on the proposed list, but not to add them. 
Counties and cities would each, in that event, set up a 
similar machinery. The county superintendent or the 
city superintendent, as the case might be, with an ad- 






u 



^r^'^'"' ' 



^'^ iL'.r'it r 




Three-Window Rural Schoolhouses, Without Cloakroom, but with 
Front Porch 



STATE ORGANIZATION 17 

visory committee of county or city teachers, would make 
a selection from the state list and submit the list so 
selected to the county or city board of education for 
approval. This plan is peculiarly adapted to Kentucky, 
since it harmonizes the two methods which have so long 
conflicted with each other, namely, the single compul- 
sory state list and the independent local list. 

SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 

The law of 1838 creating a state board of education 
provided, also, for a superintendent of public instruction, 
appointed by the governor for a term of two years. In 
1850 the superintendent became a constitutional officer, 
elected by the people for four years; the constitution of 
1891 prohibited his re-election. 

The duties of the first state superintendents were 
chiefly clerical. They compiled the returns from the 
school census, assisted in apportioning state school funds, 
collected data on school enrollment and attendance, 
and made an annual report to the general assembly. Not 
until 1864 were they required to give full-time service or 
to maintain an ofiice at Frankfort. In fact, nearly all 
the early state superintendents were ministers holding 
active pastorates, who gave to the schools only such 
time as they could spare from their religious duties. 

Latterly the responsibihties of the state superintendent 
have been increased. The clerical work of the office has 
mounted by leaps and bounds. It now involves the 
collection and tabulation of many kinds of educational 



i8 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

and financial data, the answering of thousands of letters, 
the issuing of scores of circulars, the preparation of 
numerous forms and blanks, and the compilation and 
publication of a number of bulletins annually. The 
office also prepares and publishes elementary and high 
school courses of study, special courses for physical edu- 
cation, agricultural education, home economics, etc., as 
well as programs for special exercises, such as for Tem- 
perance Day and Thrift Day, and issues sample plans for 
schoolhouses. 

The superintendent is required not only to supervise 
the accounting and expenditure of all public school funds, 
approve all plans for school buildings, interpret the 
school laws and report violations thereof, but also to 
supervise every phase of public school instruction, in- 
cluding the classification of high schools. He appoints 
the state board of examiners, of which he is also a mem- 
ber; is a member of the state textbook commission, 
member of the vocational education board, member of 
the board of trustees of the University of Kentucky, 
member and chairman of the boards of trustees of both 
the Eastern Kentucky and Western Kentucky Normal 
Schools, and member and chairman of the board of the 
Kentucky Normal and Industrial Institute. 

There has been a corresponding increase in the com- 
plexity of administrative problems confronting the super- 
intendent. The small district with its single school has 
given way to county, graded school, and city districts; 
the one-teacher school is being displaced by large con- 



STATE ORGANIZATION 19 

solidated and even larger city schools; a complex pro- 
gram, including science, physical education, home- 
making, farming, etc., has succeeded the three R's; and 
low local requirements for teachers' certificates have 
been displaced by state standards and state examinations. 

The state superintendent has thus become an impor- 
tant officer. His responsibilities, covering in theory the 
entire field of public education, call for a man of high 
executive and administrative ability, technical training, 
large experience, and genuine devotion to education. 

The mere recital of the state superintendent's functions 
and opportunities shows that he should be absolutely 
independent of political influences and considerations. 
Yet the office of state superintendent in Kentucky is 
to-day in partisan politics. The state superintendent is 
nominated on a party platform and elected by party 
vote. Expediency, not fitness, almost inevitably de- 
termines the nomination. The selection of a competent 
man is an accident. For educators of proved abihty 
and reputation cannot be expected to stand on a party 
platform, to submit to party pressure, or to go through 
partisan elections. 

Thus nominated, the state superintendent is called 
upon to pay his part of the campaign expenses, to sub- 
ordinate himself to the party program, to participate 
in the campaign, and to conduct his department with an 
eye to party interests. Party poHtics enter into the 
employment of janitors and clerks, and professional as- 
sistants can hardly be selected solely on the basis of 



20 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

merit. Policies and plans for the improvement of the 
schools must fit in with the party program, and must meet 
the approval of party leaders. 

Moreover, Kmitation of service to a single term of four 
years has various unfortunate results. It increases the 
difficulty of getting a competent superintendent. It 
makes continuity of poHcy impossible. It lessens the su- 
perintendent's influence both with the people and the 
general assembly, particularly toward the end of his 
term, for why should the legislature bother with proposi- 
tions which will in all probability be modified or entirely 
discarded by the incoming official? 

Finally, the state superintendent is poorly paid, and 
his office, located in the new capitol, lacks ahnost every- 
thing it needs except space and furniture. For a short 
period prior to 1880, the superintendent's salary was 
$3,000. In 1880 this was reduced to $2,500, and has 
since stood at that figure. However, in 19 12 the super- 
intendent became special school inspector, with an allow- 
ance of $1,500, so that in his dual capacity he now re- 
ceives an annual salary of $4,000. The salary of the 
superintendent of public instruction in North CaroHna 
is $5,000; in Maryland, $8,000; in New Jersey, $10,000. 

Between 1893 and 1906 there was no provision for 
paying the superintendent's expenses while visiting 
schools or performing any of his official duties. Even 
now, his travehng allowance is limited to a maximum of 
$500, although he has an indefinite allowance in his ca- 
pacity as special school inspector. 





Four-Window Rural Schoolhouses, Without Cloakroom or Porch 



STATE ORGANIZATION 21 

As late as 1 9 10, the clerical and professional force of the 
office consisted of the superintendent and three clerks, 
with a total payroll of $5,850, where it had stood since 
1893. In 1920, the total appropriated by the state 
for clerical, stenographic, and professional assistance, 
including the superintendent's salary, was $19,500. 
Any two of a dozen of the superintendent's duties — for 
example, supervision of schools, inspection of school ex- 
penditures, approval of schoolhouse plans, classification 
of high schools, preparation of the biennial report, etc. 
— ^would, if properly performed, exhaust this entire 
appropriation. 

With inadequate assistance and defective organization, 
the state superintendent is expected to direct and super- 
vise the schools, and to have at hand in usable form 
reliable information about them. Accordingly, he asks an- 
nually for detailed information on enrollment, attendance, 
teachers' salaries, school expenditures, and other impor- 
tant items. The facts returned by local officers are seldom 
complete and often unreliable. The superintendent is 
unable to check and verify the returns. They are gen- 
erally tabulated as they come in, and published, at great 
expense, without analysis or interpretation, although there 
is scarcely a table in the biennial report which does not 
omit returns from some county, graded school district, 
or city. To illustrate: In the report for 1917-1918, in 
the table on county fund distribution, data from nine 
counties were omitted; to fill out the table, the returns 
of the preceding year were used. In the same volume 



22 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

the distribution of state funds for 1918-19,19 is given as 
$3,533,000, whereas the auditor gives it as $4,010,000. 
We were unable to find in the office of the state superin- 
tendent complete or reliable information or data on a 
single important feature of the public schools. 

A division of records and reports should be estab- 
lished to remedy these defects. The biennial report, 
almost the bulkiest published in the Union, could then 
be reduced to one-fourth its present size, and data of 
inestimable value could be collected and tabulated for 
the use of the department, of the general assembly, and 
the general public. 

In 1 912 a meagre provision was made for the supervi- 
sion of public school expenditures. Its necessity and 
importance were emphasized by the many financial 
irregularities and census-padding activities uncovered. 
But it is impossible to secure competent men to carry on 
the work at $1,000 a year, the maximum salary fixed 
by the law. Consequently, the present superintendent 
has appointed no assistant inspectors. Occasional in- 
spections, however, conducted by members of the office 
staff, show the need to be as great as ever. 

Again, the state superintendent is responsible for the 
educational supervision of the schools. But the state has 
never appropriated a dollar for educational supervision 
other than for the state superintendent's salary. In 
1 9 10, the superintendent then in office applied to the 
General Education Board. Its present annual appro- 
priation of $21,400 for salaries, clerical assistance, and 



STATE ORGANIZATION 23 

traveling expenses enables the superintendent to employ 
an inspector of high schools, two supervisors of white 
elementary schools, and a supervisor of colored schools. 
These supervisors have been invaluable. They have been 
leaders in every forward educational movement; they 
have co-operated with local school officials ; and they have 
been missionaries in the development of popular interest 
in public education. There is, however, a growing de- 
mand for a new type of supervisory assistance. Coun- 
ties, graded school districts, and cities require a careful 
study of their respective local situations, and assistance 
in formulating plans, covering long periods, for the 
improvement of their schools. To meet these new de- 
mands, an additional high school supervisor and an 
additional elementary school supervisor ought to be 
provided. 

More recently, through the temporary aid of federal 
funds, amounting to $6,500 annually, the department 
was furnished with a supervisor of health education. 
The response of the schools shows that this work is 
both needed and appreciated, and permanent arrange- 
ments should be made for its continuance. Also, the 
vocational education board now provides, from federal 
funds at an annual cost of $7,868, the department 
with a director of agriculture, a supervisor of trades 
and industries, and a supervisor of home economics. 

If further illustration were needed to emphasize the 
inadequate support of the superintendent's office, the 
following could be cited: Almost from the founding of 



24 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

the public school system, the state superintendent has 
been required to prepare and publish suitable school- 
house plans, and the general assembly of 1920 imposed 
on him the further duty of approving all plans for pro- 
posed school buildings. The full time of a school archi- 
tect with proper assistance is needed if this work is to 
be done well, and the expenditure would be amply justi- 
fied by the superior character of schoolhouse construc- 
tion. Yet the general assembly has never appropriated 
a penny for the purpose. 

Assuredly, the state superintendent is expected to 
"make bricks without straw." The large powers which 
he possesses on paper are reduced to nominal form by the 
dissipation of authority through various boards, by the 
conditions under which he is chosen to office, by the 
shortness of his tenure, and by the lack of an adequate 
staff. 

SUMMARY 

To summarize: The state now assumes responsibility 
for public education. But the educational machinery 
of the state is antiquated and inadequate. The state 
board of education, by reason of its makeup, is incapable 
of performing the functions that naturally fall to such 
a body. The state superintendent, whatever his char- 
acter, personality, or training, is handicapped by party 
connections, Hmited tenure, and inadequate financial 
support. If the schools are to be effectively adminis- 
tered, the present ex officio board of education must be 



STATE ORGANIZATION 25 

replaced by a properly constituted board; the state su- 
perintendent must be taken out of partisan politics, the 
office must be placed on a professional basis, and its sup- 
port must be made commensurate with its responsibil- 
ities and duties. 



III. LOCAL ORGANIZATION AND 
ADMINISTRATION 

THE state and the local units must co-operate 
if a sound educational system is to develop. The 
part that the state plays has already been indi- 
cated. It should set up and enforce everywhere minimum 
educational standards, and toward this end should con- 
tribute a reasonable amount of money raised by general 
taxation. The local community should show its pride 
and interest by pushing ahead beyond the minimum 
standards set up by the state. Realizing that the edu- 
cation of its children is the most profitable investment 
that can be made, the community should desire better 
school buildings, better trained teachers, a longer school 
term, more and better school supervisors than the state 
law actually compels. To procure these the community 
must tax itself beyond the required minimum; and under 
competent leadership it will do so, for men can readily be 
made to see that every dollar spent in education (juickly 
reproduces itself many times in a vigorous and industrious 
people. Efficient schools require, therefore, as we have 
pointed out in the preceding chapter, ' continuous and 
progressive central leadership; they also require local 
interest, local initiative, and local sacrifices. 

36 



LOCAL ORGANIZATION 27 

COUNTY ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION 

The county is at once the oldest and the newest unit 
of local organization, for between 1838 and 1856 a nomi- 
nal form of county organization was maintained. Each 
county had an appointed board of school commissioners 
— first five, later three ; but their powers and duties were 
inconsiderable. They were authorized to divide the 
county into districts; to give notice of and supervise 
school elections; to apply for and receive the state school 
funds due the county; acting with the district trustees, 
they originally examined the teachers, but subsequently 
delegated this important function to other persons. 
The duties were thus not enough to keep the board alive. 
For this, or some other reason, in 1856 the school com- 
missioners were displaced by a single appointed commis- 
sioner, who, in 1884, became the county superintendent. 

The abolition of the county board in 1856 marked the 
passing for the time being of the idea of central county 
control, and this idea did not reappear until 1908, when 
the county board of education was re-established. The 
new county board was a clumsy affair, being made up 
of the chairmen of the several division boards, of which 
there were four, six, or eight in each county. 

Between 1838 and 1908 the district was therefore the 
real rural school unit in Kentucky. The county com- 
missioners or county superintendent divided the county 
into districts containing as nearly as possible 100 children 
of school age. Thereafter the management of the schools 



28 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

was practically in the hands of the district. The district 
voted a school, fixed its own taxes, and elected its own 
trustees, who constructed the schoolhouse, employed 
the teacher, fixed her salary, and determined the length 
of the term — in short, managed the school. Many of the 
serious ills from which Kentucky schools have suffered 
grew, as we shall see, out of this district organization. 

The law of 1908, which re-established the county 
board, was a tardy recognition of the fact that the 
county, not the district, must be the local rural educa- 
tional unit. No system of education can be built up 
out of independent districts. The county is the natural 
unit for taxation, and while small enough to engage local 
interest, it is large enough to support graded schools, a 
county high school, supervisors, attendance officers — 
all the several factors that are indispensable to organized 
educational effort. It was therefore sound statesman- 
ship to consolidate the separate rural districts into the 
county unit in charge of a county board of education. 

The main duty imposed on the county board of educa- 
tion was the management of school finances and the 
school plant. Up to this time, as stated above, each 
district had been responsible for its own schoolhouse. 
Schoolhouses were sometimes built by a special district 
tax, sometimes by a special district poll tax, but more 
often by private subscription. Occasionally a district 
had a good school building. More often the school- 
house was a wretched hovel, unworthy the name. 

With the county board of education re-established, 





Four- Window Rural Schoolhouses, with Porch, but Without Cloakroom 



LOCAL ORGANIZATION 29 

almost every general assembly added to its financial 
powers. A far-reaching expansion was the provision of 
the law of 1912 authorizing the county board to combine 
the state school and county school funds, and to dis- 
tribute them to the districts according to their needs. 
The employment of teachers remained in the hands of 
district boards of trustees, but teachers were to be paid 
according to a salary schedule adopted by the county 
board of education, approved by the state board. Thus, 
the old method of apportioning state school funds di- 
rectly to the districts was abolished. The small district 
was now on the same footing as the large district; teachers 
of equal qualifications received the same salary, and 
the scramble for the large district, with the large salary, 
which extended even to paying a premium to the trus- 
tees for a particularly large school and to political log- 
rolling to secure the election of a given trustee favorable 
to the employment of a given teacher, became a thing of 
the past. 

The objects for which the county board might spend 
county school funds were at the same time multiplied. 
In 191 2 the county board was authorized to employ 
rural school supervisors and to pay the necessary expenses 
incurred by them and the county superintendent in the 
performance of their official duties.^ Thus, by 1920, the 
financial powers of the county board of education were 

^In 191 2 counties were also permitted to vote county bonds for the 
erection of schoolhouses, but thus far no county has voted such bonds. 
We do not include these provisions in our discussion of the county boards 
of education because a separate commission was authorized to handle 



30 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

ample to enable them to provide a uniform and efficient 
system of county schools. 

The re-established county board of education was also 
vested with certain educational responsibilities, which 
were gradually increased. They were required by the 
law of 1908 to establish at least one county high school, 
and authorized to prescribe rules and regulations for 
the management of the same, adopt a suitable course of 
study, employ the necessary teachers, fix their salaries, 
and dismiss them for cause. The law of 1908 conferred 
on the county board the power to change the boundaries 
of old subdistricts and to lay off new subdistricts ; that of 
191 2, to consolidate subdistricts and to fill vacancies 
in trusteeships; and that of 1914 extended the board's 
authority over the entire county, since which date no 
new graded school districts might be formed without 
its approval. Thus, one by one, the county board was 
endowed with most of the functions properly belonging 
to it. But meanwhile, as has already been pointed out, 
the board was itself clumsily constituted, being made up 
of division chairmen, each naturally more interested in 
the division from which he came than in the county as a 
whole. Thus, the district spirit permeated the county 
organization. 

This defect was corrected in 1920 by the new county 

unit law, one of the few pieces of constructive educational 

the funds derived from such county bond issues. The creation of this in- 
dependent commission is a further illustration of the state's tendency to 
establish separate boards or commissions to perform duties that properly 
belong to the original board. 



LOCAL ORGANIZATION 31 

legislation to be found in the entire history of the state. 
This statute created county boards of five members, to 
be elected by the voters outside of graded school and 
city school districts. The people thus received for the 
first time a direct voice in the management of school af- 
fairs from the standpoint of the county as the unit. 
At the same time, the law of 1920 not only extended the 
financial powers of the county board, making special 
provisions for a county school budget and an increased 
compulsory county school tax, but also placed in its 
hands the entire educational management of rural schools, 
including the appointment of the county superintendent 
as its executive officer. 

The first election under the new law took place in 
November, 1920, the new members taking office January 
1, 192 1. In places there naturally exists some discontent 
with the members chosen, and with their first important 
act, the selection of a county superintendent. No such 
change could possibly be carried through without a cer- 
tain amount of dissatisfaction. The remedy lies, how- 
ever, not in a change of the law — the law is based on 
sound and well-accepted principles — but in a wiser se- 
lection of county school board members by the people. 
The very exercise of the privilege will of itself tend to 
bring about the desired results. 

THE COUNTY SUPERINTENDENT 

The efficiency of a county system depends largely on 
the executive officer, the county superintendent. The 



32 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

title "county superintendent" was not legally em- 
ployed until 1884, although county superintendents had 
existed since 1856, when the single commissioner took 
the place of the old board of common school commission- . 
ers. 

Old as this ofi&ce is, it is to-day one of the weakest 
spots in the state public school system. The difficulty 
is not a lack of power. The single common school com- 
missioner assumed all the clerical and supervisory duties 
of the board of commissioners which he displaced. He 
divided the county into districts, called for the state 
school funds and distributed them to the districts, re- 
ceived reports from district trustees, and made reports 
to the state superintendent; appointed one or more per- 
sons who, along with himself, issued teachers' certifi- 
cates, visited schools, and advised teachers. From time 
to time additional responsibilities were imposed. For 
example, in 1870, it became his duty to decide all ques- 
tions of dispute with respect to the common schools, and 
to organize and conduct teachers' institutes. In 1884 
he was authorized to condemn unfit and insanitary 
schoolhouses. At this time, also, he was charged with 
the handling of state school funds. In 1886, he was 
authorized to select textbooks, sharing this responsi- 
bihty, after 1893, with the county board of examiners, 
and between 19 10 and 19 14, with the county textbook 
commission. Though until 1920 he lacked the power 
to appoint and assign teachers, he was, if qualified, 
nevertheless in position to do effective work in many 



LOCAL ORGANIZATION 33 

directions. But the superintendency was a failure, and 
for obvious reasons. 

In the first place, from the beginning the office has 
been intrenched in county politics. The county super- 
intendent, always dependent on the county politicians 
for appointment or nomination and election, had been 
subject to all the ins and outs of county politics. In the 
second place, the salary was too meagre to attract and 
hold competent men. The first county superintendents 
received a maximum of $100 annually, later increased to 
an average of about $250. Between 1870 and 1884, 
the salary was further increased; but up to 1912, the 
maximum that might be paid was $1,500. After 1*912, 
the maximum was $2,500, and the minimum $600. Never 
in all the history of the state has more than one superin- 
tendent received the maximum, $2,500; and county su- 
perintendents are now serving, and will continue to 
serve until December 30, 192 1, for the minimum $600 a 
year. The law of 1920 fixes the minimum at $1,200, and 
places no limit on what a county board may pay. Of 
the 70 newly elected superintendents, one will receive 
$4,000 a year. Above 20 per cent, will receive the mini- 
mum, $1,200, with the average for all $1,81.7. As a re- 
sult of low salaries, many county superintendents have 
been anything but educators. They have been farmers, 
storekeepers, lawyers, doctors, ministers, insurance 
agents, blacksmiths, carpenters, dressmakers, milliners, 
etc. 

Repeated efforts have been made to define proper 



34 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

qualifications for the office, but the highest ever pre- 
scribed — two years of education beyond high school 
graduation — are entirely inadequate. Inadequate as 
they are, probably less than a third of the superintendents 
now in office could meet them. Of the 96 county super- 
intendents in office in 1920-192 1 reporting to us, 8 have 
never gone beyond the elementary school. Of the re- 
mainder, 

27 have had less than a full high school course; 

25 have had the equivalent of a high school course; 

14 have had less than two years beyond high school; 

13 have had as much as two years beyond; 
2 have had three years beyond; and 
7 have had the equivalent of a standard college 
training or more. 
Doubtless all of them have through reading added to 
their training, and some have had experience as school- 
men; but even if full credit be given for experience and 
outside reading, all too many of the county superintend- 
ents are unqualified to discharge the duties of the office. 

It goes without saying that county superintendents 
who are dependent for their positions on poHtical favor, 
who participate actively in county politics, who give 
only part time to the schools, and who are mostly un- 
trained, cannot be active educational leaders. Some of 
them are little more than office clerks, and poor ones at 
that. Their financial accounts are wretchedly kept- 
often their ledger is their checkbook stubs, and a bal- 
ance is seldom struck except at the close of the school 



LOCAL ORGANIZATION 35 

year. Irregularities in the auditing and paying of bills 
and in the handling of public funds are common. While 
the county courts are expected to audit school accounts 
annually, the audit is seldom more than a formality, 
and in one county there has been no settlement for 
years. Fortunately for the future, the law of 1920 re- 
quires county boards to provide annually for an out- 
side audit and to publish the results. Further, the new 
account book, prepared by the state board of educa- 
tion, requires a monthly balance, and it is hoped that 
the appropriation of 1922 will enable the state superin- 
tendent to supervise adequately both the accoimting 
and the business methods of county boards. The 
rapidly increasing expenditures make such supervision 
more imperative than ever before. 

The clerical work of the ofhce of the county superin- 
tendent is generally as poorly done as the accounting. 
Reports are required from teachers, but few superin- 
tendents see to it that each teacher makes all the reports 
required or that those made are either complete or cor- 
rect. Examination has been made of hundreds of 
teachers' registers, which include the teacher's term 
record and annual report, without finding one that is both 
complete and correct. The superintendents' annual 
reports to the state superintendent are likewise usually 
incomplete, and rarely accurate; occasionally they are 
not even made at all. Even on current items of ad- 
ministrative importance, it is next to impossible for the 
state department to obtain reHable information. And 



36 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

the present survey of public education has been con- 
tinually hampered by the incorrectness and incomplete- 
ness of official data. 

The county superintendents are not themselves alto- 
gether to blame. The offices of many are inadequate 
and poorly furnished. Few have ample cabinets and 
filing cases; not more than four or five have modern cler- 
ical and statistical devices, such as mimeographs and 
adding machines, and two-thirds of them are entirely 
without clerical assistance of any kind. Under these 
conditions, full information about the schools simply 
cannot be collected and compiled, whatever the law. 

These defects in business methods, accounting, and 
reporting would be less serious if superintendents per- 
formed satisfactorily their administrative and supervis- 
ory duties. Though a few superintendents have re- 
cently been active in promoting consolidation, in erecting 
new schoolhouses, in encouraging better attendance, in 
engaging better teachers, and in securing larger county 
levies, the majority have no administrative program 
and exercise little administrative control. The admin- 
istrative looseness in many counties is astonishing; the 
superintendent knows little about how the schools are 
conducted. Trustees dismiss teachers apparently with- 
out cause, and close the schools for the most trivial 
reasons. In one instance a trustee closed the school be- 
cause his son was ill, and he did not want him to lose 
any time; therefore, other children had to wait until he 
was well. The teachers themselves, apparently without 





One-Room Rural Schoolhouses of Somewhat More Modern Type 



LOCAL ORGANIZATION 37 

anyone's knowledge or authorization, also close the 
schools for days and weeks to do farm work, or visit, 
or go shopping, or rest. For example, a teacher, on 
securing her first pay, forthwith closed school for a week 
and proceeded to Lexington to do her winter shopping. 
Nothing at all is thought of dismissing school an hour 
or two earlier than the appointed time. That schools 
should begin and close regularly at definite hours, and 
that they should continue uninterruptedly throughout 
the term, are elementary points in administration that 
are disregarded at will under the happy-go-lucky, do-as- 
you-please regime that obtains in Kentucky. 

Although schools are usually in the hands of young, 
inexperienced, and untrained teachers, many superin- 
tendents give little or no thought to supervision. Less 
than half report giving as much as one-fourth of their 
time to this work; a fourth give none at all. Even if 
they were all quaHfied to supervise teaching, the attitude 
of county boards of education toward paying expenses 
incurred in the performance of official duties would dis- 
courage them. A third of the county boards of educa- 
tion provide no expense allowance; another third make 
only a meagre allowance. Such conveyance as is needed 
(a saddle horse, horse and buggy, or automobile) must be 
provided by the county superintendent, who also fre- 
quently pays all of his traveling expenses. 

Under the most favorable conditions a superintendent, 
single-handed and alone, cannot properly supervise the 
schools of an entire county. In every county there 



38 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

should be at the very least one additional person who 
spends all her time in helping teachers, especially young 
teachers, to organize their schools, to classify, grade, and 
teach their pupils. One county now has two special 
supervisors of physical education; another, two special 
supervisors of cooking and sewing; eleven have each 
a colored supervisor for colored schools; but there is not a 
single regular white rural supervisor in the entire state. 

The law of 191 2 authorized county boards of education 
to employ rural school supervisors. The next year the 
state superintendent reported 49 rural supervisors at 
work, and predicted the early extension of supervision 
to all the counties. The persons so employed, however, 
were seldom especially trained, few county superintend- 
ents were sufficiently equipped to appreciate, select, or 
direct a good supervisor, and, in consequence, the whole 
enterprise quickly fell into disrepute. 

Some counties are now attempting its revival through 
attendance officers. Attendance officers who have had 
teaching or family experience can help young teachers 
in disciphne and management, but they have neither 
the time nor, ordinarily, the training to do supervisory 
work of the amount and kind needed. To rely on at- 
tendance officers for supervisory direction would there- 
fore be a grave mistake. The work can be entrusted only 
to skilled persons, specially trained, if soHd results are to 
be obtained. 

The law of 1920 removed the office of county super- 
intendent from poKtics, placing his selection in the hands 



LOCAL ORGANIZATION 39 

of the county board of education. But time must pass 
before results appear. Most of the county superintend- 
ents holding office have been reappointed by the new 
county boards of education. In many instances this 
was not only the wise thing to do, but it was all that 
could be done. Yet in a number of counties the boards 
had the money and the power to go out of the county 
and even out of the state for superintendents, but 
failed to take advantage of the opportunity. Trained 
Kentuckians in number qualified for the office are not 
available, and neither Kentuckians nor qualified persons 
outside of the state will be available until the new law 
is appreciated by the people and its spirit carried out 
by county boards of education. 

GRADED COMMON SCHOOL DISTRICTS 

We have said that two educational divisions are not 
included in the county unit, viz., the graded common 
school district and the city school system. The state 
now has 314 white and 2 colored graded school districts, 
each with its own board of trustees, acting independently 
of the county board of education. 

Graded school districts are as old as the pubHc schools 
themselves. Louisville, Lexington, and Maysville were 
recognized as such by the organic law of 1838. Prior 
to 1888 graded school districts operated either under the 
same laws as ordinary school districts, or received special 
charters from the general assembly. Since 1888 the 
school laws have contained a separate chapter dealing 



40 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

with their organization and administration, which sets 
them off from the ordinary district; a few, however, still 
cHng to their special charters. 

Up to 1888 only one general provision was imposed 
on towns or villages desiring to organize as graded dis- 
tricts. They were expected to estabHsh and maintain 
common schools adequate to teach all children of the 
district, free of charge. After 1888 a town or village was 
required to vote a maximum local school tax, first of 
70 cents, later of 50 cents. From time to time other re- 
quirements have been imposed. For example, since 1893, 
the petition to the county court for an election to decide 
on the formation of a graded district has had to be en- 
dorsed by the trustees of the ordinary districts affected 
and by the county superintendent, and since 19 14 such 
petition must be approved by both the county board of 
education and the county superintendent. Again, in 
1893, the size of graded districts was restricted to two 
and one-half miles in all directions from the proposed 
school site, and since 1914 such districts must contain at 
least 100 census pupils. The county district law of 1908 
contained still other restrictions, and since 1916 graded 
school districts have been required to maintain a high 
school equal to that maintained by the county board or 
to pay the tuition of its pupils in an approved high 
school elsewhere. 

These regulations are well enough in themselves, but 
no penalty has ever been imposed for violating them, 
nor any means provided for returning to the county a 



LOCAL ORGANIZATION 41 

graded school district which fails to carry out the con- 
ditions in question.^ To illustrate : A district votes the 
required local school tax, but for years at a time no local 
school tax is levied, and, however dire the need, the maxi- 
mum may never be levied. Doubtless all graded school 
districts contained 100 census pupils when organized, 
but the state now has 63 that no longer contain the requi- 
site minimum. The obligations of graded school dis- 
tricts to provide high school opportunities are clear; but 
there are 52 that make no such provision. In short, 
once organized, the graded school district becomes a law 
unto itself. 

As suggested, graded school districts not only vary 
in size, but in the character of the schools maintained. 
They range in size as follows: 

10 employ one teacher; 

77 employ two teachers; 

63 employ three teachers; 

52 employ four teachers; 

34 employ five teachers; 

26 employ six teachers; 

54 employ seven or more teachers. 
In the larger graded school districts, those employing 
seven or more teachers, there is generally much to com- 
mend. Most of these have good school buildings and 



1 Such districts, with the approval of the county board of education and 
the county superintendent, may vote to return themselves to the county, 
but there is no other authority with power to put them back into the 
county. 



42 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

grounds, employ fairly well-trained principals, on salaries 
ranging from $1,500 to $2,500, and maintain not only 
well-graded elementary schools, but four-year high 
schools, with a nine or ten months' term. The educa- 
tional interest in certain of these districts is admirable. 
For example, when, in 1920, it was supposed that such 
districts were authorized by law to levy a maximum tax 
of $1.25, a number forthwith levied the maximum, and in 
a few, although the law was later declared invalid, the 
maximum, by common consent of the taxpayers, was 
collected. 

On the other hand, probably nowhere else in the entire 
public school system of the state, all things considered, 
are educational conditions quite so bad as in the small 
graded school districts. Sometimes the school term is 
only six months long; the schoolhouses are mostly ram- 
shackle, tumble-down, dirty, wooden structures; not 
infrequently the teachers hold no certificates at all, are 
no better prepared than the ordinary rural teacher, and 
are sometimes paid less. A local school tax may or may 
not be levied, and, when levied, the sheriff may hold it in 
his own hands for as much as two years. Cases are 
known where the collector has not made a settlement 
within five years. Evidence of petty graft, inefficiency, 
and the free play of personal and partisan interests 
abounds. If there is any reason, other than to avoid 
taxation, for the existence of most of these small graded 
districts, it is certainly not apparent. 

The administration of the graded school districts in the 



LOCAL ORGANIZATION , 43 

coal-producing counties calls for special comment. The 
coal companies appear friendly toward public education, 
enter actively into their management, and seem to be 
doing a good deal more for the schools than the law 
requires. But the arrangements are not infrequently of 
a paternalistic character. For example, a coal company 
builds and pays for the schoolhouse, and either rents or 
gives it rent-free to the board of trustees. If the funds 
available are not adequate for current maintenance, the 
company makes up the deficit. The company thus 
keeps itself before the community as a patron, and ap- 
pears to be doing more than its bare duty to the com- 
munity. In many cases, however, if the usual tax was 
levied, the community could do all these things — and 
more — for itself. Besides, it would own and control its 
own school plant; the school patrons would be accus- 
tomed to paying school taxes, and the conununity 
would have a self-respect impossible so long as it is the 
beneficiary of a corporation. In some places the law 
is plainly ignored. To illustrate: In certain districts 
no school tax is levied; the coal companies, without 
authority of law, hold out a certain amount monthly from 
the wages of the miners, which, along with what the 
companies donate, goes to support the school. The com- 
panies lead the communities to beheve that they are 
expending on the schools far more than their ordinary 
school taxes, whereas in some instances they are saving 
hundreds, perhaps thousands, of dollars annually. Need- 
less to say, this sort of thing should be stopped. 



44 • PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

The difficulty of supervising 316 graded school dis- 
tricts is obvious. They have, all told, more than one 
thousand trustees, 316 collectors, and 316 treasurers. 
Scattered, as they are, over all parts of the state, even 
the inspection of the accounts of these 316 boards, to 
say nothing of supervising their business methods and 
administrative practices, is an impossible task. Casual 
inspections, however, have revealed diverse irregularities 
and the probable loss annually of thousands of dollars of 
pubhc money. 

Nor is there any adequate local administration out- 
side of the larger districts, for only the very largest can 
afford to employ competent superintendents. The 
school principal usually teaches full time and is responsi- 
ble, besides, for the discipKne and management of the 
school; but he has neither time nor capacity to handle the 
financial affairs of the district. The board of trustees 
attends to these in its own way, without help or sugges- 
tion from any source. 

The difficulty of properly administering these 316 
separate and independent graded districts would in itself 
be sufficient reason for bringing them back into the 
county system, but there are other substantial reasons 
for so doing. 

Prior to the enactment in 1908 of the county school 
district laws it was well enough for towns and villages 
to form themselves into graded districts. In fact, it 
was a distinct advantage to have them do so, as it en- 
couraged local initiative. But the creation of the county 






Typical Rural School Outhouses 



LOCAL ORGANIZATION 45 

unit, with a county board of education with large 
educational and financial powers, and particularly the 
imposition of a compulsory county school tax, en- 
tirely change the situation. Under these conditions 
graded school districts and a county school system are 
contradictory. A fully developed county system ex- 
cludes the possibility of graded districts, and, con- 
versely, the existence of graded districts impairs the 
county system. 

Again, the imposition of a compulsory county school 
tax raises a fundamental question with respect to ex- 
empting graded districts from county school taxes. So 
long as there was no county school tax, it was well enough 
to allow graded districts to levy and enjoy a local tax. 
But this is not the whole story. Graded districts have 
extended their boundaries up and down railways and in 
and around every possible bit of valuable personal and 
corporate property, so that, exempt as they are from the 
county school tax, they enjoy the sole benefits of property 
which can scarcely be sa,id to belong merely to them. 
In fact, most of the graded districts would not have been 
estabhshed had it not been for this opportunity. As the 
compulsory county school tax does not touch property in- 
cluded in the graded district, a considerable part of the 
taxable property of each county is not subject to county 
tax. The following is a representative situation. A 
county has six graded districts, which receive all the 
proceeds of taxation from two-thirds of all the railways; 
in these six districts there is concentrated, including the 



46 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

railroads, almost one-half of all the taxable wealth of 
the county, but only one-third of all the school children. 
For the county outside the graded districts to produce 
per pupil the same amount of money for school purposes, 
the school tax rate in the county would have to be twice 
as great as the rate in the graded districts. Under these 
conditions, equality of educational opportunities is im- 
possible. Naturally, there is a widespread and rapidly 
developing feeling that graded districts ought not to be 
exempted from the county school tax, and this feeling 
is justified. 

There is a further inherent injustice to the rural sec- 
tions in the existence of graded districts. With two ex- 
ceptions, they include only schools for white children; 
the responsibility for colored schools in villages and 
towns is thrown on the county. To be sure, the local 
tax levied for white schools is levied only on the property 
of whites, but the question is not. Where is the tax levied?, 
but who pays it. It is generally agreed that all taxes are 
ultimately paid by the consumers; hence, a Negro who 
rents a house owned by a white man contributes to the 
taxes on white property. Even the tax levied on cor- 
porate wealth within the graded school district has only 
recently been shared with the colored schools. 

Again, the original reason for estabhshing graded 
school districts has, in a number of counties, practically 
disappeared, and it is hoped will disappear in all parts 
of the state in the near future. When no rural schools 
ran more than six months, it was an advantage if even a 



LOCAL ORGANIZATION 47 

single district provided a longer term. But there are 
now some twelve counties that have a school term of 
more than six months, and other counties are moving 
in the same direction. Henceforth, not this or that 
graded district, but the entire county should extend 
its term, when conditions are ripe for such action. 

Finally, so far as possible, the one-teacher rural school 
should be abolished, to be replaced by larger union or 
consoUdated schools. Most of the graded school dis- 
tricts comprise towns and villages that are natural con- 
soKdation centers. So long as they exist independently 
of the county system, they are stumbhng blocks to con- 
solidation. ConsoHdation may be effected under the 
joint control of graded district trustees and county 
boards of education, but this method results in divided 
responsibility, endless compHcation, and frequent injus- 
tice to one or the other party. 

We are, therefore, of the opinion that all graded dis- 
tricts should so far as possible be converted into consoli- 
dated schools and returned to the county system. To do 
so will wipe out certain outstanding injustices, will add to 
the dignity and strength of the county system, and at the 
same time will be to the advantage of the graded school 
districts themselves. As things now stand, neither the 
county nor the separate districts can support a proper 
organization. By pooling resources a strong superin- 
tendent and a well-trained professional staff can be more 
easily provided. And through proper consoHdation, 
the educational facilities of many graded school districts, 



48 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

as well as of the county as a whole, will be greatly- 
strengthened. 

Even when graded districts are restored to the county, 
the largest may still maintain a degree of local autonomy. 
They might be permitted to retain their local board of 
trustees; also, they might levy an additional local school 
tax to be expended, subject to mutual agreement between 
the respective trustees and the county board of education, 
for local purposes, such as lengthening the school term, 
employing better trained teachers, providing educational 
equipment, play-grounds, athletic fields, etc. 

CITY SCHOOL DISTRICTS 

The remaining local unit of organization and adminis- 
tration is the city school district. These are of four 
types, comprising, respectively, cities of the first class, of 
which there is i ; cities of the second class, of which there 
are 4 ; cities of the third class, of which there are 8 ; and 
cities of the fourth class, of which there are 46. 

City schools were operated prior to 1893 either under 
graded district school laws or under special charters, 
mostly the latter. The adoption of the new constitution 
of 1 89 1 gave opportunity to systematize city school 
legislation, and separate codes for each class of cities 
were enacted in 1893. These separate city codes have 
been amended from time to time, so that as they now 
stand few states possess better city school legislation than 
Kentucky. 

The four separate city codes closely resemble one an- 





Two- and Three-Room Rural Schoolhouses of the Older Type 



LOCAL ORGANIZATION 49 

other. They provide for small boards of education, 
elected by the people on secret and non-partisan ballots. 
These boards have both financial and educational con- 
trol of the schools, with power to appoint the necessary 
agents, such as superintendents, business managers, 
principals, teachers, etc. With the exception of Louis- 
ville, they are independent of municipal authorities in 
school finance, having power to request or to levy school 
taxes up to a specified maximum, and all are authorized 
to submit to the people the question of issuing bonds, 
within constitutional Hmitations, for the purchase of 
school grounds and the erection of school buildings. 

Such differences as exist are, for the most part, of 
minor importance. For example, in first and second class 
cities the boards of education are composed of five mem- 
bers; in third class cities, of nine members; and in fourth 
class cities, of six members. In Louisville, the only city 
of the first class, the board of education has no taxing 
power, no power to fix the school tax or to compel the 
levy by the city council. The council must levy for 
schools not less than 36 cents and not more than $1 .00 per 
hundred, but between these two extremes the rate is in the 
discretion of the council and not of the board, of educa- 
tion. In cities of the second, third, and fourth class the 
board of education has the taxing power. In second 
class cities, the tax is Hmited to 65 cents; in third class 
cities, to $1.00, including a poll tax not exceeding $1.50; 
and in fourth class cities, to $1.50, including a poll tax 
not exceeding $2.00. 



50 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

Other parts of the school system have been seriously 
hindered by constitutional Kmitations and poor laws — 
for example, the state department of education and the 
counties — ^but this cannot be said of the cities, at least 
in recent years. In consequence, the towns educationally 
approximate towns of equal size elsewhere. Neverthe- 
less, defects are serious, as they are generally throughout 
the country. Too often boards of education, rather 
than trained superintendents, still run the schools; per- 
sonal favoritism still plays too large a part in the em- 
ployment of teachers; and financial support is generally 
inadequate to provide suitable grounds and buildings, 
skilled administrators, well- trained teachers, qualified 
supervisors, attendance officers, school doctors and 
nurses. Help cannot, however, be obtained by radical 
changes in the city school laws; an enJightened and active 
public sentiment, and a deeper appreciation of the scope 
and value of public education are requisite. 

A few minor changes might, however, be made to ad- 
vantage. For example, it would simphfy the school 
laws and add to the ease of administration if the four 
separate school codes, so similar in general outline, were 
combined into a single code, appKcable to all cities. Thus 
minor differences could be eliminated; the powers and 
duties that properly belong to a board could be more 
clearly distinguished from those properly belonging to 
the superintendent of schools as its executive officer. 
The relative position of superintendent and business 
manager could also be soundly adjusted. As the law for 



LOCAL ORGANIZATION 51 

first and second class cities now stands, the business 
manager is co-ordinate with the superintendent ; he should , 
we believe, for the sake of harmony and efficiency, be 
subordinate to the superintendent and subject to his 
direction. While the maximum tax rate should prob- 
ably not be uniform for all cities, that for first and second 
class cities should be considerably increased, and the 
school boards in first class cities should be made inde- 
pendent of the city council in school finance. 

Whether or not a single city school code is adopted, 
certain other needed changes should undoubtedly be 
brought about through general legislation. For example, 
cities that still possess special charters should surrender 
them ; likewise, the pro\dsion in the code for fourth class 
cities which permits of two boards of education, one for 
white schools and one for colored schools, should be re- 
pealed in the interest of unity, efficiency, and justice. 

There is also a fundamental question that should be 
carefully considered. Cities, Kke graded school districts, 
are now free from the county school tax. Cities repre- 
sent an extreme concentration of wealth, in the pro- 
duction of which the county shares. They are not 
independent in respect to taxation for other purposes; 
they pay county taxes for county roads, county courts, 
penal and eleemosynary institutions. 



IV. TEACHERS 

GOOD schools are impossible without good teach- 
• ers, and good teachers are the product of training 
and experience. 
There were in service in 1920-1921, 13,653 teachers, 
divided as follows: city, 2,708; graded district, 1,345; 
and rural, 9,600. Of these, 12,146 are elementary and 
1,507 are high school teachers. 

TRAINING OF WHITE TEACHERS 

A teacher's certificate indicates in a general way the 
extent of her training and competency. The lowest 
grade state certificate now issued requires an education 
that goes somewhat beyond the elementary school, but' 
less than high school graduation. Of all rural and 
graded school teachers in service in 1 920-1 921, 84 per 
cent, of the white and 65 per cent, of the colored held 
this lowest grade state certificate, or county certificates 
of similar rank.-^ It can therefore be safely affirmed 
that a large majority of the teachers of Kentucky are 
poorly educated and not professionally trained. 

We have detailed information on the education and 

iThe several cities — first, second, third, and fourth class — certificate 
their own teachers, so that city certificates cannot be grouped with state 
certificates. 

52 



TEACHERS 53 

training of 11,712 of the 13,653 teachers, or 86 per cent, 
of the total number. Conclusions based on returns 
from so large a proportion will hold approximately true 
for the entire teaching body. 

On the basis of our returns, only one elementary teach- 
er in ten is satisfactorily prepared to teach in an ele- 
mentary school, that is, has graduated from high school 
and has had at least two years of additional special train- 
ing. As might be expected, a greater proportion of city 
than of rural elementary teachers are satisfactorily 
trained. Forty per cent, of the elementary teachers in 
cities have had a satisfactory training, as compared with 
8 per cent, in graded school districts, and 3 per cent, in 
the counties. 

Nor does the state possess a considerable body of even 
fairly well trained elementary teachers. In fact, 63 
per cent, of all the elementary teachers of Kentucky 
have had less than a full high school training, and 23 
per cent, have never gone beyond the elementary school. 
The bulk of these very poorly trained teachers are in the 
rural schools, where 77 per cent, have had less than a full 
high school course, and 30 per cent, have themselves 
never advanced beyond the elementary school. (See 
Table I, Appendix.) 

Conditions in the high schools are somewhat better. 
At that, only sHghtly more than one high school teacher 
in four is satisfactorily prepared to give high school in- 
struction. (See Table II, Appendix.) Again, cities are 
better supplied than the counties, for 41 per cent, of 



54 



PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 



Elementary 
school 

Part high 
school 

Full high 
school 

1 year ahove 
high school 

2 year a ehove 
high school 

3 years ahove 
high school 

4 years above 
high school 



2,108 




3,679 



195 



1 130 



Figure i. Preparation of White Elementary Teachers 

city high school teachers have satisfactory training, as 
compared with 14 per cent, in graded school districts and 
10 per cent, in rural districts. Twenty-one per cent, of 
all high school teachers, and in rural sections 35 per cent., 
have not themselves enjoyed the equivalent of a high 
school education. 



Elementary 
school 
Part high 
school 

Full high 
school 

1 year above 
high school 

2 years above 
high school 

3 years above 
high school 

4 years above 
high school 




331 



Figure 2, Preparation of White High School Teachers. 



TEACHERS 55 

TRAINING OF COLORED TEACHERS 

All things considered, colored teachers make a com- 
mendable showing. A third of them have had two 
years or more of training beyond a high school course. 
(See Table III, Appendix.) City colored teachers are 
better prepared than rural colored teachers. In the 
cities 53 per cent, have advanced two years or more 
beyond high school, whereas in rural sections only 18 
per cent, have advanced so far. 

teachers' salaries 

Low salaries, a defective certification system, a lack 
of supervision and inadequate teacher-training institu- 
tions account for Kentucky's poorly trained teachers. 

The salaries paid Kentucky teachers have always been 
close to the lowest paid in the United States. The aver- 
age was, for 

1900,1215; 
1910, $337; 
1918, $364. 

Up to 191 2 teachers were left to wring from school 
boards whatever they could. The state, however, came 
to the assistance of rural elementary teachers in 191 2, 
when a minimum wage of $35 a month was set, with a 
maximum of $70 a month, for a six months' term. In 
1918 the minimum was raised to $45 and in 1920 to $75, 
with no maximum specified. But even now the wage 
paid the best prepared rural elementary teachers rarely 



56 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

exceeds $ioo per month. On the other hand, 40 counties 
are unable to pay the $75 minimum. The maximum in 
these 40 counties is around $65. While, therefore, a few 
rural elementary teachers are now paid around $100 per 
month, approximately 84 per cent, receive only between 
$65 and $75 per month for from six to eight months a 
year. 

Graded districts and especially cities pay elementary 
teachers a better annual if not a higher monthly wage 
than the counties. But rarely outside of Louisville does 
an elementary teacher receive as much as $1,000 per 
year; the great majority get between $700 and $800 a 
year. 

High school teachers are paid more than elementary 
teachers; the average high school salary for 1920-1921 
was $1,278. 

So long as such low salaries prevail, particularly in the 
rural sections, young men and women will not prepare 
themselves thoroughly for teaching. Unless the wages 
for well-trained teachers are materially advanced, Ken- 
tucky's schools will continue to be in the hands of 
teachers who know little more than the brighter children 
in school, and teachers will continue to teach only until 
they can find something else to do. 

CERTIFICATION SYSTEM 

The certification system now in use does not encourage 
young people to get professional training. In the first 
place, there never has been any clear recognition that 





Old-Style Rural Schoolhouses, with Two or IMoie Rooms 



TEACHERS 57 

different kinds of school work — for example, teaching in 
the elementary school and teaching in high school — call 
for different kinds of training. Almost all certificates 
thus far issued, except those of the lowest grade, have 
been vahd in both elementary and high schools. To 
illustrate: The state board of education may grant to a 
graduate of a standard college, who has taken as a part 
of his college course a specified amount of professional 
high school work, an advanced high school certificate. 
On the other hand, the state normal schools may grant 
to an eighth grade graduate, without any high school 
training, who has completed a fifty weeks' course speci- 
ally adapted to teaching in the elementary schools, an 
elementary certificate which is Kke^vise valid in high 
schools. The college graduate and the fifty-week normal 
school student may teach side by side in the same high 
school. 

In the second place, there has never been any definite 
relation between the training required and the grade and 
validity of the certificate granted. For example, a state 
teacher's certificate presupposes scholarship equivalent 
to the completion of a four-year high school course, and is 
vahd in all pubHc schools. On the other hand, a state 
teacher's diploma presupposes scholarship equivalent 
to the completion of two years of college work, and is 
Ukewise vahd in all pubhc schools. Thus, these two 
years of additional preparation apparently count for 
nothing. The teacher who has had two years of college 
work does not rank above the one who has advanced no 



S8 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

further than the high school. Why should he seek the 
higher training? 

In the third place, there is even now only the sHghtest 
relation between the training required and the salary 
paid. For example, in the teachers' salary schedule for 
1 920-1 92 1, the following certificates, which presuppose 
far different amounts of training, call, within any one 
county, for the same monthly wage: 

Certificate Years of Training Pre- 

supposed 

State Teacher's Certificate Equivalent of high school 

course 
Intermediate Normal One hundred weeks above 

elementary school 

Advanced Normal One ^undred-eighty weeks 

'^ above elementary school 

Elementary University One year above high school 

Intermediate University Two years above high 

school 
Elementary High School Full college course 

Thus, as far as salary schedule goes, the teacher who has 
taken the trouble and spent the money to get a college 
education gets the same remuneration as the one who 
has had only one hundred weeks of schooling above 
the elementary school. 

Long-standing and widespread corruption in the issu- 
ing of certificates has also done much to discourage honest 



TEACHERS 59 

preparation. In the past, county superintendents, act- 
ing through county boards of examiners, have at times 
granted certificates without discrimination in direct or 
indirect payment for political services. The evils sur- 
rounding the issuance of county certificates were, how- 
ever, largely done away with in 1920, when the authority 
formerly exercised by county boards of examiners was 
concentrated in the state board of examiners. 

But Kentucky will not have a sound certification sys- 
tem until the fifty or sixty other certificating authorities, 
including cities and public and private institutions, are 
aboHshed, and the sole power of granting certificates — 
city, graded school, and county — is vested in the state 
board of education. Cities should be encouraged to 
require of their teachers qi ' ications higher than those 
imposed by the state, but at the same time all city teach- 
ers should hold p'^^lc certificates. Such state certificates 
would be mop^ly issued on credentials. Likewise, to 
deprive public and private institutions of their present 
powers to certificate their respective students does not 
mean that such students would be compelled to take 
examinations. In general, students of all standard in- 
stitutions offering approved teacher- training courses 
would be granted the appropriate certificate on presenta- 
tion of credentials showing the amount and kind of work 
completed. Thus to centralize certificating authority 
will do away with existing confusion and will set up a 
single standard for certificates of a given kind and grade. 

Under a sound certification system, different kinds and 



6o PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

grades of certificates will be issued for different kinds of 
school work; and each kind and grade of certificate will 
be linked with a distinct prescribed salary. Thus, the 
certificate will vary with the training, and the salary will 
correspond to the certificate. All kinds and grades of 
certificates requiring the same length of preparation will 
call for the same salary. Salaries will be so graduated 
that the least well prepared and least experienced teacher 
will receive the lowest salary, and the best prepared and 
most experienced, the highest salary. A certification 
system based on these two principles not only recognizes 
preparation and experience, but rewards them. Teach- 
ers are thus encouraged to prepare themselves and to 
continue to teach, if for no other reason than that they 
may claim the higher wage. 

TEACHER-TRAINING INSTITUTIONS 

Despite low wages and an infenor certification system, 
the state would now have a larger body of well-trained 
teachers had it at an early date provided properly for 
teacher-training institutions. 

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, STATE UNIVERSITY 

Apart from an ineffective effort in 1856 to establish 
a normal school in connection with Transylvania Col- 
lege, and another unsuccessful attempt in connection 
with the Kentucky Mihtary Institute in 1878, Kentucky 
did nothing for the training of teachers until 1880, when a 
normal department was added to the University of Ken- 



TEACHERS 6i 

tucky. Up to this time public school teachers depended 
for their training on the colleges, academies, and par- 
ticularly on private normal schools which sprang up in 
different parts of the state around some strong person- 
ality, flourished for a time and died. Sixteen of these 
private normal schools were active when the state in 1880 
undertook the professional training of teachers. 

From the beginning the normal school estabhshed at 
the University of Kentucky offered advanced instruction, 
and in 1893 courses were outlined leading to the degree of 
bachelor of pedagogy. The state's conception at this 
time of its responsibiHty for the training of teachers was, 
however, very narrow, for it Hmited the number of stu- 
dents with free tuition to five from any one county. 

The normal department was dropped in 1908, and in 
its stead there was estabhshed a department of education 
of collegiate rank. The department is supported from 
the general funds of the university, with the exception of 
Smith-Hughes work, for which the university receives an 
allotment from the state vocational education board. 
The total Smith-Hughes expenditure in 1920-192 1 was 
$27,000. 

The department is administratively a part of the col- 
lege of arts and sciences. Students in education are 
therefore not registered separately, nor has the depart- 
ment, except for teachers of agriculture and home econ- 
omics, outlined courses in education for high school 
teachers, principals, superintendents, etc., such as are 
outHned in business administration, social service, geology, 



62 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

and journalism. Students completing one year's work 
are granted an elementary university certificate, two 
years' work, an. intermediate university certificate, and 
three years' work, an advanced university certificate — 
each vaKd in both elementary and high schools. The 
total enrollment in the department in 1920-1921 was 274. 
Eight students received degrees in education, 8 in agricul- 
ture, and 12 in home economics. 

The number graduating from the department has 
never been large. In fact, the total number of state 
university graduates now teaching in the pubhc schools 
is probably less than 100, and the total number having 
had some work at the university but not graduating is 
less than 400. Slight as this contribution to the teaching 
staff is, no other institution in the state even approaches 
this record. 

The development of the department is clearly Kmited 
to the number of students entering the university for other 
than technical courses, such as engineering or agri- 
culture. But with the development of the university the 
number of such students will increase, and a sound 
certification system will do something to increase the 
number desiring to prepare for teaching. 

EASTERN AND WESTERN STATE NORMAL SCHOOLS 

The two white state normal schools established in 1906 
are twin institutions. Each is governed by its own 
board of regents, consisting of the superintendent of 
public instruction as chairman and four members ap- 



TEACHERS 63 

pointed by the governor for terms of four years. Over 
each is also a subordinate governing body, the normal 
school executive council, consisting of the state superin- 
tendent and the presidents of the two schools. Since 
191 8 each school has derived about $125,000 annually 
from a mill tax of five-eighths of one cent for current sup- 
port and the erection of buildings; they have also each 
received additional appropriations of approximately 
$305,000 for permanent improvements. Each occupies 
the campus of an abandoned college; their plants are 
therefore partly old and partly new. The value of the 
plant of the Western Normal is now estimated at 
$546,000, and that of the Eastern at $748,000. The 
schools are open annually for forty-eight weeks — four reg- 
ular terms of ten weeks each and a summer term of eight 
weeks. The courses of study are similar, consisting of an 
elementary certificate course, an intermediate certificate 
course, and an advanced certificate course; though, as 
we shall point out later, the Western Normal offers a 
greater variety of advanced courses than the Eastern. 
The enrollment of the Western Normal for the entire 
year has run as high as 2,000, and that of the Eastern as 
high as 1,500. The Western Normal has graduated from 
its advanced course, including the year 192 1, 677 stu- 
dents, and the Eastern Normal, 519 students. 

The value of these institutions to the pubKc schools can 
scarcely be overestimated. Their administration has 
been practically free from politics, and they have served 
the state faithfully and well. The state's greatest need 



64 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

for many years to come, if its educational system is to rest 
on a sound foundation, is well-trained elementary teach- 
ers. The poUcies of these two normal schools ought, 
therefore, at this time to be carefully examined in view 
of the state's needs and their appropriate functions. 

Conditions existing at the time the normal schools 
were estabUshed compelled them to give both normal 
school and high school instruction, and to build up their 
courses around teachers' certificates of low grade. 

When conditions are favorable to the effective training 
of teachers, only high school graduates are admitted to 
normal schools. In 1906, when Kentucky normal 
schools were established, only the cities and the more 
progressive towns had high schools ; in fact, there was at 
that time not a standard rural high school in the state. 
The great majority of the students entering the normal 
schools were therefore without home high school op- 
portunities, and few indeed were high school graduates. 
To meet these conditions and to give their students the 
necessary preparatory training, the normal schools were 
compelled to give a considerable amount of strictly 
high school instruction. Even now, Kentucky high 
schools are not all that they should be, but high school 
opportunities have so multiphed as to relieve the normal 
schools to a considerable extent of this obligation, and 
the state should no longer look to them to do high school 
work. 

Again, when Kentucky normal schools were estab- 
lished, professional training was little appreciated, and 





Newer Type of Rural Schoolhouses, with Two or :\Iore Rooms 



TEACHERS 65 

state and county standards for teachers' certificates 
were extremely low. Accordingly, the normal schools 
were compelled to build up their courses around certi- 
ficates of low academic and professional requirements. 
The result is that the normal schools have developed 
three relatively distinct and poorly organized courses — 
an elementary certificate course, requiring 50 weeks of 
attendance above the elementary school ; an intermediate 
certificate course, requiring 100 weeks of attendance 
above the elementary school ; and an advanced certificate 
course, requiring 180 weeks of attendance above the 
elementary school. Only the adoption by the state of 
a certification system with appropriate academic and 
professional standards \vill enable the normal schools to 
develop proper courses, controlled alone by the needs 
of well-trained teachers. 

Present requirements for graduation from the ad- 
vanced course are, for students entering directly from 
the elementary school, from a half to a year short of 
what they should be. For example, an elementary school 
graduate can finish the advanced course in four and a 
half years of 40 weeks each. Normal school students 
can probably do more in a given time than high school 
students, for the average age of students entering the 
normal schools for the first time is about nineteen years, 
which is approximately the average age of the freshmen 
entering the state university. But normal school stu- 
dents can hardly cover in four and a half years of 40 
weeks each the ground between the elementary school 



66 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

and the sophomore year in college, or six years of school 
work. The shortest time in which normal school stu- 
dents can cover this field is probably five years of 40 
weeks each. If the state is to have elementary teachers 
of standard training, these schools should further raise 
their standards, at least for pupils entering from the ele- 
mentary school, if not also for high school graduates. 

Low state and county standards for certificates also 
largely explain why the normal schools are able to hold so 
relatively few students until they complete the advanced 
course. The great bulk of their work now is and always 
has been with students taking a preparatory course to 
complete the eighth grade, and with students of eighth 
grade attainments who are taking the elementary certifi- 
cate course. To illustrate: The total enrollment of the 
Western Normal School for 1920-192 1 was approximately 
2,000 students; nevertheless, the enrollment as of April 
I, 1 92 1, was only 951 students. Forty-eight (48) of 
these were disabled soldiers; the remainder were dis- 
tributed as follows: 

Elementary course, which requires elementary gradua- 
tion for entrance, 557 

Intermediate course, which requires 50 weeks beyond 
elementary school for entrance, 126 

Advanced course, which requires 100 weeks beyond ele- 
mentary school for entrance, 2 20 

The same relative distribution among courses prevails 
at the Eastern Normal School. Notwithstanding these 
large total annual enrollments, the Western Normal 



TEACHERS 67 

School graduated in 192 1 only 79 students, and the 
Eastern Normal School, only 35 students. 

Finally, both schools have recently undertaken to 
train high school teachers. The Western Normal School 
in particular emphasizes this feature. It has developed 
within the last few years a number of specialized high 
school courses, corresponding in their requirements 
to the advanced elementary course, and is now offering 
full college courses in a number of studies, such as Latin 
and mathematics. The Western Normal has, however, 
only 465 students qualified to take advantage of these 
electives, of whom approximately three-fourths are 
occupied with elementary work. Should normal schools, 
originally created to train elementary teachers, and still 
inadequate to supply the need, even when working at 
full capacity, undertake the training of high school 
teachers? 

In the sunrmer of 192 1, the state superintendent or- 
ganized, through the extension divisions of the Eastern 
and Western Normal Schools, 67 county training schools 
for teachers. These are six-week schools, usually located 
at a county seat, which offer to teachers instruction par- 
ticularly in the common school subjects, and in methods 
of teaching and school management. The expense was 
borne by the teachers, who paid a tuition fee of $10 for 
the six weeks' term, and by appropriations from county 
and city boards of education. Attendance was volun- 
tary, yet 3,700 teachers enrolled, which speaks volumes 
for their loyalty and seriousness. At the same time, as 



68 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

an indirect result of estabKshing county summer schools, 
the attendance at all state normal schools was greatly 
increased, so that altogether 7,000 Kentucky teachers 
were in summer school in 1920-192 1. County teacher- 
training schools have under existing conditions proved a 
valuable part of the teacher-training facihties of other 
states, and undoubtedly are calculated to render a great 
service at this time in Kentucky. 

How inadequate is the supply of trained teachers com- 
ing from state institutions is revealed by the following 
facts. To say nothing of the number required to fill new 
positions, our high schools need annually not less than 
130 trained teachers merely to take the place of those 
dropping out. In 1920-192 1 the state university prepared 
28, and of these only 8 were looking forward to usual 
high school instruction, the others having speciaHzed in 
agriculture and home economics. Similarly, to take the 
place of the elementary teachers who drop out there is 
need annually of approximately 1,450 teachers. To sup- 
ply this demand, the Western and Eastern Normal 
Schools together graduated, in 1920-192 1, 114, and ap- 
proximately half of these do not expect to teach in the 
elementary school. 

TRAINING INSTITUTIONS FOR COLORED TEACHERS 

The State Normal and Industrial Institute, established 
in 1886 and located at Frankfort, is the older of the two 
state institutions for training colored teachers. It is 
managed by a board of trustees, consisting of the state 



^JtfT^ 




"-" 1 I - _ 

PP »r *^ w ^-„ ■■ ^ .*JF 




Consolidated Rural Schoolhouses of Better Type 



TEACHERS 69 

superintendent, as chairman, and three other members 
appointed by the governor, with the approval of the sen- 
ate, for terms of three years. 

The institution was estabHshed for the purpose of train- 
ing Negro teachers for the common schools, but in 1890 
departments of agriculture, mechanics, and domestic 
economy were organized ; more recently there have been 
added courses in vocational agriculture and trades, to 
meet the requirements of the Smith-Hughes act. 

The majority of the students, who usually number 
about 400, exclusive of the summer school, have always 
been and are now enrolled in the normal department. 
The normal school work proper is based on an inter- 
mediate course of two years, which covers the seventh 
and eighth grades, and on a preparatory high school 
course of three years. The normal school course itself 
covers three years, and is a queer mixture of advanced 
high school instruction and normal school work, includ- 
ing practice teaching. About 30 students complete the 
course annually; they compare favorably with the grad- 
uates of similar institutions elsewhere. 

The West Kentucky Industrial College, located at 
Paducah, became a state institution in 1918, when the 
state appropriated $3,000 for annual maintenance and 
$5,000 for buildings. (See picture opposite page 186.) 
In 1920 the appropriation for maintenance was increased 
to $5,000 annually, and $10,000 was appropriated for 
permanent improvements for the biennial period 192 1 - 
1922. The board of trustees consists of the president of 



70 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

the college, the county superintendent of McCracken 
County, and three others appointed by the governor for 
terms of two years. The school enjoys the same certi- 
ficating powers as other state normal schools, and up to 
date has issued 4 elementary certificates, 15 intermediate 
certificates, and 4 advanced certificates. Although the 
West Kentucky Industrial College is to be counted 
among the state's resources for the training of Negro 
teachers, the Frankfort school is the only state institution 
even fairly well equipped to train teachers. 

Altogether there are now available annually about 30 
well-trained colored teachers, whereas approximately 75 
are needed each year to take the place of those who leave 
the system. 



V. BUILDINGS, GROUNDS, AND EQUIPMENT 

GOOD schoolhouses, adequate school grounds, and 
appropriate physical and educational equipment 
are essential to a good school. If classrooms are 
dark and dirty, poorly ventilated, and irregularly heated, 
if the sanitary arrangements and toilet facilities are un- 
wholesome, and if the school is without facilities for physi- 
cal training, play, and athletics, children are bound to 
suffer physically. There is, moreover, a close relation 
between physical welfare and mental, not to say, moral, 
vigor. An attractive environment develops respect for 
property, hygienic habits, modesty, and orderliness. 

For purposes of description, Kentucky schoolhouses 
may be grouped into rural, graded district, and city 
schoolhouses. 

RUHAL SCHOOLHOUSES 

Of the 8,070 rural and graded district schoolhouses of 
the state, 50 per cent, have been erected since 1908. 
During this period the problems of schoolhouse construc- 
tion have been more or less widely discussed, and the 
importance of proper construction and arrangement has 
been repeatedly emphasized. It might, therefore, be 
expected that rural schoolhouses — at least those erected 

71 



72 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

within the last decade — would meet modern require- 
ments. 

The great majority of rural schoolhouses — approxi- 
mately nine out of ten — are one-room, box-Hke struc- 
tures, essentially alike from the mountains to the Missis- 
sippi, and from the Ohio to Tennessee. These box-Kke 
structures have, in the main, a single classroom; cloak- 
rooms are rarely provided, and additional rooms for 
manual training, cooking, agriculture, or for fuel, almost 
never. They vary in size, number of windows, and in 
having or not having porches ; but in all essential respects, 
they are ahke and almost all bad. (For illustrations, see 
opposite pages 4, 8, 16, 20, 28 and 36.) 

If there is a really modern one-room structure in the 
state, it did not come under our observation in the 
course of inspection tours through two-thirds of the coun- 
ties. 

Only a few one-room rural schoolhouses have founda- 
tions; most of them rest on stone pillars without other 
underpinning. The biting winter blasts are thus free 
to sweep under the schoolhouse and up through the thin 
floor into the classroom to the discomfort of the teacher 
and children. 

Approximately 50 per cent, of these schoolhouses are 
painted and in fair repair. The common color is white, 
which is very attractive against the usual background 
of green. The other half have in most instances never 
had even an initial coat of paint, and are in ill repair. 
The roofs leak, the weather-boarding is off here and 



BUILDINGS, GROUNDS. AND EQUIPMENT 73 

there, doors are broken, knobs gone, window panes out, 
walls stained, floors uneven and cracked, scats broken 
and out of place, and a pall of dust over all. These 
neglected schoolhouses teach eloquently the doctrine of 
shiftlessness, disorder, and indifference. Their silent 
lessons will undoubtedly be reproduced in the home, on 
the farm, in the factory and store. Such neglect and 
lack of care would not be tolerated by any business 
organization. 

All rural schoolhouses except the very oldest are 
ceiled. The favorite ceiling is wood, wliich is occasion- 
ally painted, sometimes papered, but more often left 
unfinished. Even when decoration is attempted, some 
outlandish color is used, such as indigo blue, rather than 
cream for the ceiling and hght and dark buff for the side 
walls. Since there is usually no cloakroom, the children's 
wraps are hung on the side walls — an unsightly as well as 
unwholesome practice. 

An upright Burnside stove furnishes heat, the fire being 
started by the first person who reaches school, whether 
pupil or teacher. As the margin before opening is slight, 
time is necessarily lost in waiting for the children to warm 
up. The stove usually stands in the center or front 
center of the room. In cold weather this method of 
heating almost demorahzes the school. Although it 
is not difiicult to do, apparently rural teachers have 
not learned how to build a fire in these stoves so as to 
produce a uniform and continuous heat. Constant use 
is made of "flash" fires — kindHng is piled in, coal 



74 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

thrown on top, and all drafts opened. The fire roars, 
the stove is soon red hot from top to base, and the chil- 
dren nearby bake. Thereupon the windows are thrown 
open, the stove door opened, the fire dies down, and the 
room cools to the point of discomfort. During the 
course of a single day, this process is repeated again and 
again. Under these conditions, it is not surprising that 
almost every afiSiction known to children visits rural 
schools, closing them for weeks at a time, nor is it sur- 
prising that in inclement weather httle school work is 
done, for the children are continuously on the move from 
one part of the room to another, either to get warm, 
or to cool off, amid indescribable confusion and disorder. 

If rural schools need one thing more than another, it 
is some form of heater that will guarantee proper ventila- 
tion and uniform heat conditions. Even if the comfort 
of the children is totally disregarded, the loss of school 
time from unnecessary sickness and from the interrup- 
tion of school work, resulting from the use of the old- 
fashioned stove, must in a single year greatly exceed the 
cost of such a heater. 

With few exceptions, one-room rural schools are 
equipped with double patent desks, usually of three sizes, 
and occasionally with single patent desks. They are also 
furnished with a teacher's desk and chair, and with some 
sort of bookcase. A galvanized bucket with a common 
drinking cup almost invariably takes the place of a sani- 
tary drinking fountain; lavatory facihties are non- 
existent. The blackboard usually consists of the front 



BUILDINGS, GROUNDS, AND EQUIPMENT 75 

wall and a few side wall spaces painted black, and is, as 
a rule, useless because of wear. In a few counties, each 
school has in addition to the above equipment, a globe, 
maps of the world, of the United States, and of Kentucky, 
and a number of charts for reading, physiology, etc.; 
now and then also, special chairs and work tables for 
beginners. 

Rural teachers are their own janitors. Most counties 
make a pretense of providing floor oil or sweeping powder, 
but as the teacher is generally expected to carry the 
cleansing material from the county seat to the school, 
all too frequently it never arrives. Sweeping is usually 
done at the noon hour, the older girls helping. The 
health of the children does not count as against the teach- 
er's desire to leave as quickly as possible after the close of 
school. 

Under these conditions, it is gratifying to find, as one 
occasionally does, a neat and well-kept schoolhouse. But, 
of course, most of them are bound to be dirty. They 
will continue to be dirty so long as teachers are required 
to take care of them. The janitor work in rural schools 
should be a county expense. If for practical reasons 
it is necessary for the teacher to care for the schoolhouse, 
she should be paid for doing it, and the pay should be in 
addition to her salary as teacher. 

Coal is the common fuel, but a coal house is rarely 
found except in the Bluegrass and in a few of the western 
counties. About half of the rural schools have wells or 
cisterns; at the other half, water is carried from a nearby 



76 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

spring or well. In the mountain countie's toilets aire prac- 
tically unknown. In other sections there are usually 
two at each schools — one for boys and one for girls — but 
they are often badly located and in ill repair. (See il- 
lustrations opposite page 44.) Girls' toilets are gen- 
erally clean; boys' toilets are filthy and offensive beyond 
beHef . In only one county are there uniformly sanitary 
closets. 

Rural school grounds are invariably small. In some 
sections the mountainous character of the country ren- 
ders difficult the acquisition of good-sized, level school 
grounds, but in many instances school sites have been 
chosen because the ground was worthless for other pur- 
poses. Consequently, many scarcely afford level space 
enough even for the schoolhouse. Some of the grounds 
are picturesque and dotted with beautiful native trees; 
but most of th6m are barren, rough, and unimproved. 
Occasionally an enterprising teacher helps the children 
with some play apparatus, and lays out a basket ball 
court, but ordinarily there is neither playground nor 
play apparatus. 

Had the one-room rural schoolhouses built since 1908 
been constructed with proper regard to Hghting, heating, 
ventilation, sanitary arrangements, and educational re- 
quirements, they would have served for many years to 
come. As it is, they are so poor and frail that the invest- 
ment in them, recent though it be, is an almost total 
loss. Perhaps this initial waste was unavoidable. Prior 
to 1908, the district was responsible for its schoolhouse; 




Athletic Field, Consolidated Rural School 




Teachers' Home, Consolidated Rural School 



BUILDINGS, GROUNDS, AND EQUIPMENT 77 

but thousands of districts evaded their responsibility. 
Accordingly, when, in 1908, the county became respon- 
sible for all rural schoolhouses, it became necessary to 
rebuild almost the entire rural school plant. In many 
counties this was literally done. With so much to do in 
so short a time, the funds available were not sufficient 
to pay for modern structures. In one sense, however, 
the perishable and unsatisfactory form of construction 
may prove a blessing in disguise — for well-built one-room 
schoolhouses might have proved an obstacle to consolida- 
tion. As conditions now are, new schoolhouses will have 
to be built, and it will be better to consoHdate them than 
to replace the one-room school. 

Besides these one-room rural buildings, there are one 
or more two-, three-, and even four-room schoolhouses 
in almost every county of the state. Most of these larger 
rural schoolhouses were formerly one-room structures, 
to which one or more rooms, generally without cloak- 
rooms, have been added. The new rooms are small, 
badly Hghted, and, what is worse, so placed as frequently 
to impair the lighting of the original room. (See illus- 
trations opposite page 48.) 

A second type comprises schoolhouses originally con- 
structed with two or more rooms, generally with cloak- 
rooms. In most instances such schoolhouses are but 
old-type one-room structures placed end to end or side 
by side, with an entrance hall near the center. (See 
illustrations opposite page 56.) More recently some 
two- and three-room schoolhouses of a more modern 



78 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

type, though by no means fully modern, have been 
erected. (See illustrations opposite page 64.) Yet, 
whatever the type, the equipment and the grounds of 
these larger rural schoolhouses differ Kttle from the 
equipment and grounds of the one-room school. 

The latest type of rural structure is the consoHdated 
school, constructed within the last four or five years. 
The best of them are of brick, and provide the usual class- 
rooms, science laboratories, and auditorium. Few, how- 
ever, have ample cloakrooms, and none inside lavatories 
and toilets. They are fairly well equipped with physical 
and educational apparatus, have rather ample grounds, 
including demonstration farm and athletic field, and the 
largest have teachers' homes. (See illustrations opposite 
pages 68 and 76.) Even the smaller consoHdated schools 
are brick or stucco, but they are not so well planned, or 
so well equipped, having, as a rule, no demonstration 
farm, athletic field, or teachers' home. (See illustra- 
tions opposite page 84.) 

These consoHdated schools, representing the high- 
water mark of rural interest, are an indication of what 
will probably become general within the next decade. 
Unfortunately, few of them, whether large or small, are 
well planned. The lower illustration opposite page 68 
is probably the best of all the consoHdated structures 
and is a creditable building; but in most instances, 
whether because of a lack of knowledge or interest on 
the part of the architect and the county superintendent, 
local opposition, or lack of funds, even the new consoU- 



BUILDINGS, GROUNDS, AND EQUIPMENT 79 

dated school buildings fail to meet present-day stan- 
dards. 

GRADED DISTRICT SCHOOLHOUSES 

In the smaller graded school districts, the building 
situation is similar to that in the rural sections. The 
two- and three-room schoolhouses were in most cases 
originally one-room buildings, to which one or more 
rooms have been attached, and are neither better nor 
worse than the corresponding type of rural schoolhouse. 
(See illustrations opposite page 56.) They are sim- 
ilarly heated, equally poor in equipment, and without 
satisfactory playgrounds. As in the rural districts, the 
janitor work is usually done by the teachers, and in the 
same inefficient manner. There are, however, in these 
smaller graded school districts a few modern buildings 
similar to the best in the rural sections. (See illustrations 
opposite page 64.) 

A second type, to be found in the larger graded school 
districts, is the big, rambling, frame structure. (See 
illustrations opposite page 90.) These buildings present 
no points of superiority over the one-room rural school- 
house. They are frequently dirtier, certainly noisier, 
and in many cases involve a serious fire hazard. 

A third type is the old, prison-style, brick structure, 
which violates every principle of fighting, ventilation, 
heating, and sanitation. (See illustrations opposite 
page 94.) While some of them are picturesquely lo- 
cated, they almost invariably lack adequate playgrounds. 



8o PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

Only a few of the larger graded school districts have 
anything approaching modern structures. Their best 
buildings provide classrooms, laboratories, and audi- 
toriums, and now and then inside lavatories and toilets. 
They are fairly well equipped, have playgrounds, and 
in some instances demonstration farms. (See illustra- 
tions opposite page io8.) Such schools reflect great 
credit upon the respective communities, and furnish a 
model that ought to be widely imitated. 

Out of the 316 graded school districts, there are prob- 
ably not more than twenty that possess satisfactory 
school facilities. The others have insanitary, unhy- 
gienic structures which would be condemned, if the state 
board of education imposed reasonable standards upon 
the independent districts. 

CITY SCHOOLHOUSES 

Of city school buildings, 40 per cent, are old structures 
erected prior to 1890. They are, as a rule, inadequately 
Hghted and ventilated, mostly heated by steam or hot air, 
but occasionally by individual stoves. They constitute 
an extreme fire hazard by reason of their size, their 
height, the narrowness of corridor and stairway, and 
lack of fireproof construction. The classrooms are 
usually without cloakrooms, and only now and then is 
there an auditorium. In most of them cheap water 
toilets have been installed. Many of these old build- 
ings are unfit for school use, and should be replaced as 
soon as possible. (See illustrations opposite page 114.) 



BUILDINGS, GROUNDS, AND EQUIPMENT 8i 

A second group, including buildings erected between 
1890 and 19 10, mark only a slight improvement over 
their predecessors. Though they will of necessity have 
to be used for some years, yet, ignoring as they do all 
considerations of health and physical development, they 
cannot be said to be adequate for present needs. (See 
illustrations opposite page 120.) 

The newer city school buildings, erected mainly since 
1910, may be divided into two classes: First, those in 
which a partially successful effort was made to construct 
well-planned and well-arranged schoolhouses, with the 
result that the buildings are modern in some respects, 
and in other respects no better than the older structures, 
the lighting in particular in most of them being ex- 
tremely poor. (See illustrations opposite page 128.) 
In the second group are buildings that compare favor- 
ably with the best elsewhere. The lighting is good, 
they are heated by steam, artificially ventilated, pro- 
vided with the usual classrooms, cloakrooms, labora- 
tories, and workshops, generally with auditorium and 
gymnasium, and occasionally with swimming pools. 
(See illustrations opposite pages 136 and 144.) 

The buildings of the cities were erected mostly before 
the value of free play and athletics was appreciated, and 
so are without adequate grounds. Certain cities (for 
example, Louisville and Hopkinsville) are making con- 
siderable sacrifices to provide their newer structures with 
plenty of play space, but in most of the cities costly mod- 
ern structures are still being built on inadequate space. 



82 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

COLORED SCHOOL BUILDINGS 

Thus far we have discussed only school buildings for 
white children. A word will suffice for the colored 
schools. 

In the rural sections there is little difference between 
the buildings for white children and those for colored chil- 
dren, though the buildings for colored children are, as a 
rule, sHghtly inferior to those for white children. Yet 
some of the best one-room rural buildings — these in- 
clude the new Rosenwald schools — are for colored chil- 
dren. (See illustrations opposite page i6o.) 

It is in the graded school districts and in the cities 
that the greatest disparity is noted. In Louisville, Hop- 
kinsville, Lexington, and Paducah, there are a few well- 
built Negro schools (see illustrations opposite page 176); 
elsewhere, colored children are generally housed in 
dilapidated frame buildings of the type to be seen in the 
illustration opposite page 90, or in old-type brick struc- 
tures, such as are shown opposite page 94. These 
colored school buildings are not only dilapidated, unhy- 
gienic, and insanitary, but they are excessively crowded. 
In most cities there is imperative need of a complete 
new school plant for colored children. 

SUMMARY 

The schoolhouse situation for the entire state may be 
summarized as follows: 
The entire rural school plant, with the exception of a 



BUILDINGS, GROUNDS, AND EQUIPMENT 83 

few small rural schoolhouses recently constructed and the 
new consolidated schools, needs to be rebuilt. In the 
Bluegrass sections, in the western counties, and here and 
there in the mountain regions, one-room rural school- 
houses should be displaced by consolidated schools. 
Where it is necessary to maintain one-room schools, as 
will always be the case in the mountain and in a number 
of the Knob counties, the present shacks should be re- 
placed as rapidly as possible by modern structures, well 
lighted, heated, and ventilated, containing not only the 
usual classroom, but also cloakrooms, a small room for 
cooking, a small room for agriculture and manual train- 
ing, and sanitary lavatory and toilet facilities. There 
should also be a well, a coal shed, and a horse shed. 

The grounds of most rural schools, whether one-teacher 
schools or consolidated schools, and of most graded school 
and city school districts should be enlarged and im- 
proved. The grounds of one-teacher schools should be 
ample for free play and agricultural demonstration beds ; 
those of all rural consolidated and graded district 
schools should also provide an athletic field large enough 
for base-ball, foot-ball, tennis and other sports. Each 
separate city should have its playgrounds and there 
should be one or more centrally located athletic fields 
for common use. 

In the graded school districts, whether these continue 
to be independent or are brought under the control of the 
county board of education, the schoolhouses, with hardly 
a score of exceptions, are totally inadequate both for 



84 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

white and colored children, and need complete recon- 
struction. 

Finally, the cities need to have a large part of their 
old buildings replaced, and in most instances completely 
new facihties for colored children. 

The schoolhouse situation is thus extremely bad. 
Surely education in cleanliness, orderliness, respect for 
property, modesty, physical well-being, and hygienic 
Kving is an essential part of the school's task; yet the 
great majority of the children of the state, both white 
and colored, are housed year after year in structures 
that themselves violate every maxim that education 
should directly and indirectly impress upon the child. 

Nor is the educational loss the only loss suffered. For 
within the last twenty years Kentucky has also lost 
through poor schoolhouse planning and construction 
probably the greater part of $10,000,000. 

The authorities have not been unaware of these con- 
ditions. Repeated efforts have been made to improve 
them. As early as 1845, the state superintendent was 
required to provide local authorities with appropriate 
schoolhouse plans. Obedient to this requirement, which 
is still in force, the state superintendent issues such plans 
at intervals. In 1898 the county superintendents were 
required to approve all building plans; and in 1920, the 
approval of the state superintendent was required. But 
these provisions have been utterly ineffective. The ap- 
proval of an untrained and unassisted county superin- 
tendent is a meaningless formality; and almost equally 



II n II H il li IS •< 



J . f 




1" B* 



-* ». »K 





Consolidated Rural Schoolhouses of Poorer Tj'pe 



BUILDINGS, GROUNDS, AND EQUIPMENT 85 

empty is the approval of a state superintendent who 
has at his disposal neither expert advice nor supervisory 
aid. The situation will not be adequately met until 
the state department of education is equipped to prepare 
schoolhouse plans and to supervise schoolhouse construc- 
tion. Such a division would cost about $10,000 a year. 
Would Kentucky lose or gain in the long run, if, at an 
expenditure of $10,000 a year, it could protect the invest- 
ment of millions in substantial school buildings? 



VI. THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TERM AND 
COURSE OF STUDY 

LET us pause for a moment to review school condi- 
tions in Kentucky, as far as we have now uncov- 
-^ ered them. 
We have found that the state board, as at present con- 
stituted, does not function and cannot possibly func- 
tion; that the state superintendent, poKtically chosen 
and without adequate staff or funds, cannot, if he would, 
conceive and pursue a far-reaching scheme of education- 
al development; that the county superintendents, mostly 
untrained, usually lack expert aid of any kind; that the 
teachers are mostly untrained and underpaid; and that 
the two great normal schools are graduating annually 
only a small body of well- trained elementary teachers; 
that many school buildings are unfit to house school 
children. We are in position to guess the quality of 
education which the school children of Kentucky receive 
under these untoward conditions ; but we have not even 
yet exhausted their enumeration. 

LENGTH OF TERM IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

The Kttle that an untrained teacher might accomplish 
under these unfavorable conditions is still further re- 

86 



THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 87 

duced by the shortness of the rural school term and the 
defects of the rural school course of study. 

The length of term in graded and city schools com- 
pares favorably with the length of term in villages and 
cities elsewhere. As a rule, graded and city schools are 
in session for nine months, though a few of the smaller 
cities have eight months, and some of the smaller graded 
school districts six or seven. A school year of nine 
months is generally accepted as satisfactory. 

Contrast conditions in the rural schools, attended by 
441,440 out of 646,559, or 68 per cent., of the children of 
school age. The rural term, with exceptions to be pointed 
out later, is six months in length; not, however, six cal- 
endar months, but six months of twenty school days, 
or 120 school days in all. From this is to be sub- 
tracted, generally, five days taken out for institute work 
by the teachers, and two legal holidays, so that the 
actual rural school term is approximately 113 days. This 
inadequate, school term places rural children at a great 
disadvantage as compared with their less numerous con- 
temporaries in city and graded districts. For example, 
in the graded and city school districts children have, as 
a rule, during the eight years of the elementary course a 
total of 72 months of schooling, whereas rural children 
have ordinarily only 48 months. Working under this 
handicap, county children must either do one third more 
work in a given period than graded and city school chil- 
dren, or take twelve instead of eight years to complete the 
elementary school program. Few rural children are able 



88 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

to remain in school so long, and few are able to do more in 
a given period than their graded school and city cousins. 
The result is that rural school children are actually re- 
ceiving on the average even less than two-thirds as much 
elementary education as graded and city school children. 

Aware of this injustice, the legislature in 1914 pro- 
vided that the common school term should be extended 
from six to seven months whenever the superintendent 
of pubHc instruction declared a per capita from the 
common school fund of not less than I4.75 for each child 
of school age, and that the term should be extended to 
eight months whenever the per capita distribution de- 
clared was over $5.35. The per capita distribution has 
not been less than $4.75 since 191 6, but somehow or 
other the common school term was not extended. 

Again, in 19 18 the general assembly provided for the 
extension of the common school term to seven or eight 
months "when the resources of the school fund or con- 
tributions by local taxation or donations shall justify 
such extension." Though the per capita distribution for 
1920 and 192 1 was $6.10, the common school term has 
not been generally extended, partly because the cost of 
education simultaneously increased, partly because the 
law failed to require local authorities to raise their part 
of the needed funds. It is, however, gratifying to re- 
port that 12 counties^ have themselves extended the 

iBoone, Campbell, Kenton, Mason, Henderson, Jefferson, Robertson, 
Washington, Fayette, Woodford, Clark, Union. There may be still 
others, but these are all that our returns show. 



THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 89 

rural term to seven, eight, or nine months, the cost being 
borne entirely by local taxation. Twenty-three (23) 
other counties,^ though unwilhng or unable to bear the 
entire burden from taxation, are encouraging local dis- 
tricts to extend the school term, partly through taxation 
and partly through subscription. In mining sections the 
entire cost is generally borne by one or more corpora- 
tions. 

The cost of a longer rural school term is a serious ques- 
tion for many counties. This problem will be consid- 
ered when we come to deal with school finance. But 
it is not simply a question of money; ''the children," 
we are told, "are needed on the farm." At times this 
may be true, and the compulsory attendance laws should 
to some extent recognize seasonal needs. But the 
counties that already operate the longer term prove be- 
yond all doubt that Kentucky farmers, like farmers 
in other states, can keep their children regularly at school 
throughout the longer school year, and that they will 
do so if the right sort of school is provided. 

ATTENDANCE IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

Irregularity of attendance also affects the results 
achieved by the rural schools. An attendance of 59 
per cent, for 1918-1919, and of 71 per cent, in 1920-1921, 
is almost prohibitive of good school work. An attend- 



^Bracken, Bullitt, Carlisle, Davies, Fulton, Grayson, Harlan, Henry, 
Hickman, Hopkins, Lee, Letcher, McCreary, Marion, Marshall, Mont- 
gomery, Nelson, Owen, Perry, Pulaski, Shelby, Spencer, and Todd. 



90 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

ance of 71 per cent, means that on the average more 
than half the children are absent more than half the 
time, and therefore receive less than 60 days of instruc- 
tion annually. Even these 60 days are not continuous, 
as children are in school today, out tomorrow, in school 
this week, and out of school the next. For example, in 
November and early December, 1920, "B" was in 
school eight days, out three, in two, out two, in one, out 
five, in two, out three, and then dropped out altogether. 
When attendance is 71 per cent, for the year, it does 
not necessarily run 71 per cent, for each of the months 
of the year. It varies from month to month, for exam- 
ple, as follows: 



lverage attendance 


SCHOOL 


SCHOOL 


SCHOOL C 


IN 1920-21 during: 


A 


B 


(colored; 


July 


83% 


80% 


78% 


August 


71 


81 


66 


September 


66 


68 


55 


October 


44 


59 


47 


November 


II 


36 


45 


December 


23 


27 


16 



In each of these instances, attendance in the first one or 
two months is good, and this is generally true for the 
state, but thereafter it decreases month by month so that 
by the end of the school term it has fallen very low. 
When attendance runs low (for example, 40 per cent.) the 
difficulty that the teacher faces can be readily appreciated 





Large Frame Schoolhouses of Graded School Districts 



THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 91 

from the following table, which shows the distribution of 
attendance for a school month of 19 days in 1920 and an 
enrollment of 34 children: 



NUMBER OF PUPILS 


NUMBER OF DAYS ATTENDED 


3 


19 


2 


18 


I 


17 


2 


16 


2 


15 


I 


14 


2 


13 


2 


10 


3 


9 


I 


8 


I 


7 


2 


6 


I 


2 


I 


I 


10 






That is, 3 pupils attended school 19 days, 2 attended 18 
days, 2 attended 10 days, and 10 out of the 34 enrolled 
did not attend at all! 

The question of better attendance has been recently 
agitated. The first compulsory, school law, passed in 
1896, required all children between the ages of seven and 
fourteen to attend school at least eight weeks continu- 
ously during the school term. But no provisions were 
made for its enforcement through attendance officers. 



92 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

School trustees were expected to enforce the law, which, 
of course, they seldom did or could. 

From time to time since 1896, the compulsory atten- 
dance laws both for rural and city districts have been 
improved. The cities and graded school districts have 
had a good law since 1910; in 1920 a new, but loosely 
drawn, county law was enacted. It fixed no age limits 
between which rural children must attend school, and it 
failed to stipulate the maximum fine to be imposed for 
violations. Nevertheless, this law, right in principle 
though defective in details, has demonstrated two things : 
First, country people will send their children to school if 
they think they have to do so. For example, the average 
daily attendance in rural schools increased from 59 per 
cent, in 1917-1918 to 71 per cent, in 1920-1921. Second, 
the operation of the law reveals the weakness of county 
and magisterial courts as enforcement agencies. County 
judges and magistrates are so intimately connected with 
local affairs, and under so many personal obhgations, that 
they cannot be relied on to prosecute their neighbors for 
failure to send their children to school. Weak as the 
county and magisterial courts are as enforcement agen- 
cies, it is nevertheless probably necessary to use them. 

MONTHS SCHOOLS ARE OPEN 

There is still another factor which affects unfavorably 
the achievements of rural schools. 

Kentucky rural schools generally begin early in July 
and are over by the first of the new year. Road condi- 



THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 93 

tions are more favorable to good attendance in these 
months than in any other months of the year, but July 
and August are unfortunately the hottest months of the 
year — outside the mountains, frequently so hot that it is 
next to impossible for days at a time to do good school 
work. The mountain sections offer a pecuHar problem 
by reason of the poor roads; but outside of the mountains, 
road conditions are scarcely worse in Kentucky than 
in neighboring states, and there is no reason why the 
schools should be open in July and August. In counties 
which have extended the term to eight or nine months, 
the schools usually open in September and close the 
first of May or June. All things considered, the atten- 
dance in these schools is as good in the winter months 
as in the early fall and late spring months. However, 
if a school term of eight or nine months were provided in 
the mountain regions, it would probably be necessary, 
on account of road conditions, to have schools open in 
July, as now, run through December, open again the first 
of April, and close late in June. 

RURAL SCHOOL COURSE OF STUDY 

Rural schools, particularly the one-teacher schools, are 
further embarrassed by their extended and compHcated 
program of studies. In early days, common school 
instruction was confined almost exclusively to reading, 
writing, and arithmetic. In fact, as late as 1852 it was 
not permissible to go beyond the elements of a "plain 
education in EngHsh, including grammar, arithmetic, and 



94 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

geography." History was added in 1864, and after 1865 
other languages and sciences might be taught. In 1884 
physiology and hygiene were added, civil government in 
1889, history of Kentucky in 1893, elementary agriculture 
in 1918, and physical education in 1920; so that the 
program of the common school, according to the law, now 
consists of: 

SpelKng Geography 

Reading United States history 

Writing Kentucky history 

Arithmetic Physiology and hygiene 

EngHsh grammar Civil government 

Composition Agriculture 

Physical education 

Besides the above, the elementary course of study in- 
cludes certain special subjects, recently added. In 1918, 
for example, one day each year was set apart for teaching 
temperance; in 1920 a half hour a week was dedicated 
to teaching "kindness and justice to, and humane treat- 
ment and protection of, animals and birds, and the im- 
portant part they play in the economy of nature." It 
was also provided in that year that fifteen minutes per 
week should be given to teaching thrift and industry. 

The elementary course of study has thus grown from 
year to year, and will probably continue to grow. The 
state board of education has already added nature study, 
music, and drawing in the course it prescribes. The 
burden of carrying such a program, heavy for graded and 





Old-Style Brick Schoolhouses of Graded School Districts 



THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 95 

city school teachers, who seldom instruct more than two 
different grades, is absurd and impossible in rural schools, 
where in nine schools out of ten one teacher teaches all 
eight grades. Let us stop for a moment to visuahze 
this educational situation: A young, untrained, and 
undirected teacher holds school during 113 days out of 
365; her school includes children from six to sixteen years 
of age; they are divided into not less than seven classes 
and attend with distracting irregularity; she is somehow 
expected, nevertheless, to teach to every age group in 
these seven unstable classes a half dozen to a dozen differ- 
ent subjects! 

To make matters worse, the present course of study 
outKnes for the six months' school about the same amount 
as is prescribed for the graded and city schools, which are 
in session from eight to ten months. This means one of 
two things: Either rural children must be carried hur- 
riedly along if the prescribed work is to be covered, or the 
teacher, failing in this, follows her own ideas of what 
should be attempted. Obviously, the rural school must 
have a simphfied program adapted to rural needs. There 
should be fewer studies, the subject matter should be 
reduced to the minimum essentials, better organized, 
and taught more interestingly and thoroughly. 

GRADED A2TO CITY SCHOOLS 

Graded and city schools suffer under some, but not all, 
of the handicaps affecting rural schools. Their school 
year is usually of reasonable length. They can classify 



96 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

their pupils more easily according to achievement, and 
can usually provide a separate teacher for each grade; in 
many instances they are also able to departmentalize 
instruction from the sixth grade on; that is, to assign one 
teacher to reading, another to arithmetic, another to 
geography, history, etc., each one teaching pupils of 
several grades in her special subject. 

Graded and city school districts are, however, like rural 
schools, handicapped by poor attendance. The atten- 
dance in these schools in the elementary grades should 
approximate 90 per cent. As a matter of fact, during 
the year 1 920-1 921 graded school district attendance was 
only 75 per cent., and city school attendance, 76 per cent. 
— an extremely poor showing. 

Graded and city schools are also in some cases handi- 
capped, particularly in the lower grades, by a short 
school day. In most graded school districts and cities 
the school day is, as is customary elsewhere, six hours in 
length, with an hour or a little more for lunch. But 
some graded and city schools have a day, particularly for 
the first three grades, that permits of scarcely more than 
four hours for instruction, and this in a single long session. 
The children come to school at eight-thirty, and remain 
until one o'clock, with a short recess for a quick lunch. 
In so short a school day it is impossible to meet the re- 
quirements of modern primary work. The result is that 
hundreds of children are retarded in the lower grades, 
and even when they are advanced they are often poorly 
prepared to do the work of the next classes. Graded and 



THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 97 

city school districts should be required by law to have a 
school day of not less than five and a half or six hours. 
The work cannot be done in shorter time. 

SUMMARY 

Thus, the conditions under which rural schools work 
preclude satisfactory results. Even when other condi- 
tions have been improved — when the teachers are better 
trained and better supervised, and better facilities have 
been provided— children cannot be satisfactorily taught 
until the school term is extended to nine months, until 
rural school attendance is greatly improved, and until a 
simplified program, adapted to rural conditions, is pre- 
scribed. Nor will results ever be satisfactory in many 
graded school districts and cities, until there is better 
attendance and a longer school day. 



VII. PUPIL PROGRESS AND INSTRUCTION 

UP TO this point we have been engaged in describ- 
ing the schools of Kentucky. Let us now con- 
sider their efficiency. 
There are two common ways of measuring the effici- 
ency of schools: First, by ascertaining how many of the 
enrolled pupils complete the course; second, by ascertain- 
ing through tests and examinations how much the pupils 
know and what they can do at the end of the complete 
elementary school course. We shall use both methods 
in order to appraise the pubKc schools of Kentucky. 

GRADES COMPLETED 

To find how long Kentucky children remain in school 
and how far they advance in the course of instruction, 
information with respect to ages of pupils and the grades 
in which they were studying was obtained from 47 cities, 
222 graded districts, and 9 counties. These returns 
indicate that almost all the pupils remain in school until 
they are fourteen years of age. Thereafter pupils drop 
out rapidly and by the time they are fifteen nearly one- 
third of them have left school. Rural and city schools 
do about equally well. (See Figure 3.) 

.But rural school children are not as far advanced in the 
school course as are city school children of the same age. 

98 



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loo PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

It is generally agreed that pupils should begin the first 
grade when they are between six and seven years of age, 
and advance a grade each year so that they will enter 
the eighth grade when they are between thirteen and 
fourteen years old. 

When this standard is appHed to Kentucky pupils, it 
is found that 47 per cent, of those in the city schools, 
53 per cent, of those in the graded districts, and 59 per 
cent, of those in the rural schools are too old for their 
grades. Conditions, especially in rural schools, are even 
worse than the bare percentages indicate. For, of the 
9,067 rural school pupils reported behind their proper 
grades, 9 per cent, are four or more years behind, iiper 
cent, are three years behind, 19 per cent., two years be- 
hind, 27 per cent., one year behind, and 34 per cent, less 
than one year behind. The corresponding percentages 
in the same order for city school pupils are 4, 6, 14, 27, 
and 49. Obviously city school children fare much better 
than country children. (See Table IV, Appendix.) 

The full effect of the failure of pupils to advance regu- 
larly through the course of instruction is shown in Figure 
4. In this figure pupils who were between thirteen and 
fourteen years old when they entered school in the fall 
of 1920 are distributed by the grades they entered. If 
these children had begun school when between six and 
seven years old and had then advanced a grade each 
year, all of them in 1920 should have been in the eighth 
grade. As it is, only 1 2 per cent, of the rural children 
of these ages are in the eighth or any higher grade. 



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I02 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

The remainder were distributed among the other seven 
grades, with 29 per cent, in the fifth grade. Conditions 
in the cities are much better, with 37 per cent, in the 
eighth and higher grades. 

Because so many children fail to advance regularly 
and are so far behind, large numbers of them leave school 
before completing even the elementary school course. 
In rural schools, nearly a third of the pupils stop with 
only a fifth grade education, half of them do not go be- 
yond the seventh grade, not more than 15 per cent, enter 
high school, and less than 5 per cent, finish high school. 
City schools carry their pupils much further. Not more 
than 10 per cent, of the city pupils drop out at the end of 
the fifth grade, two-thirds of them reach the eighth grade, 
and more than 20 per cent, complete high school. (See 
Figure 5.) 

Pupils who leave school at the end of the fifth or sixth 
grade have had only the drudgery connected with learning 
the simplest skills, viz., reading, writing, and arithmetic. 
And, worst of all, they do not carry away a mastery even 
of these simple skills so that they can freely use them in 
later life. Large numbers of rural children therefore miss 
altogether the richer portions of the school course. 

WHAT CHILDREN GET 

To find out what children know and can do, 16,700 
pupils were given written examinations,^ and nearly 

iThe giving of the tests in the various counties and cities was under 
the direction of representatives from the University of Kentucky, the 



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I04 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

59,000 test papers from these pupils were marked and the 
results tabulated. The tests were given in the subdis- 
trict or rural schools and in the graded district schools of 
nine counties — Carlisle, Clark, Hardin, Letcher, Logan, . 
Mason, Russell, Union, and Washington. Each of these 
counties is typical of its section. The school officials 
consulted agreed that the results from these counties 
would fairly represent the state. Tests were also given 
in fifteen cities — Lexington, Newport, and Paducah of the 
second class; Ashland, BowKng Green, Frankfort, and 
Henderson of the third class; and Danville, EKzabeth- 
town, Georgetown, Maysville, Morganfield, Mt. SterHng, 
Russell ville, and Winchester of the fourth class. 

In order that the results might be as representative as 
possible, efforts were made to test the pupils of every school 
in the above named counties and cities. The only schools 
not tested were those which could not be tested because 
they were closed. The tests were given mainly during 
the week beginning November 28, 1920. The exceptions 
were the cities of Lexington, Newport, Danville, BowKng 
Green, and Georgetown, in all of which the testing was 
done nearer the mid-year period. The results represent, 
therefore, for most of the small rural schools end-of-the- 



Eastem and Western State Normal Schools, Georgetown College, Berea 
College, Centre College, University of Louisville, Transylvania College, 
Kentucky Wesleyan College, and from the state department of education. 
The tests were given by students from the above named institutions 
and by county and city superintendents. More than 40 superintendents 
and 75 students participated. 



PUPIL PROGRESS AND INSTRUCTION 105 

year products; for the larger rural and for city schools, 
mid-year products. 

While the tests were given in all grades from the third 
to the eighth, the papers marked and tabulated came 
from the fifth, seventh, and eighth grades. The fifth 
grade results were selected because they are an index 
of the achievements of the large number of children who 
drop out of school at the end of this grade. The eighth 
grade results, on the other hand, represent the maximum 
elementary school product, or the work of those fortunate 
enough to complete the common school course. Seventh 
grade results were included so that Kentucky school work 
might be compared with that of North Carolina and 
Virginia, states in which the elementary course runs for 
only seven years. 

THE TESTS 

In the elementary schools, tests were given in reading, 
spelling, arithmetic, and history. 

READING 

The reading test used was devised to find out how well 
pupils understand what they read. It consists of eleven 
paragraphs, with three or four questions on each para- 
graph. Good third grade pupils should easily read the 
first of the paragraphs given and answer the questions 
concerning it. The other paragraphs are successively 
more difficult until the last is hard enough for high school 
pupils. 

The reading test has been used with pupils in many 



io6 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

other school systems, so that it is known what scores 
pupils of the several grades should make. For example, pu- 
pils completing the fourth grade and ready to begin fifth 
grade work should make an average score of 41.8; pupils 
half way through the fifth grade should make an average 
of 44.9. There are similar standards for all other grades. 

Fifth grade pupils from one-room schools, more than 
half way through the grade, made an average score in 
reading of 37.0, which represents a quality of work 
usually done by pupils beginning the fourth grade. 
Hence, Kentucky's rural fifth grade pupils in one-room 
schools are a year and a half below the standard reached 
in other states. City pupils half way through the fifth 
grade made a score of 42.3, which is about the score that 
pupils beginning the fifth grade should make. Hence, 
Kentucky's city fifth grade pupils are a half year below 
standard. Similar comparisons show that rural eighth 
grade pupils in one-room schools are two years and a 
half, and city eighth grade pupils more than a year, below 
the standard reached in other states. (See Table VI, 
Appendix.) 

Other comparisons based wholly on the returns ob- 
tained from Kentucky schools make it clear that the 
small rural schools of the state are getting results in read- 
ing which are a full year behind those of the city schools. 
For example, eighth grade pupils tested in one-room 
schools made an average reading score of 47.5, which is 
3.2 points below the score of city seventh grade pupils. 

These comparisons are entirely fair to the rural schools 



PUPIL PROGRESS AND INSTRUCTION 



107 



and somewhat unfair to the city schools, since the scores 
of city pupils represent the work of pupils only half way 



1 teacher 

schools 



1 year 



Years Behind 
2 years 3 yeors 4 years 



2 teacher 
schools 



3 teacher 
schools 

4 teacher 
school s 

5 teacher 
schools 

6 or more 
teacher 

schools 

Negro rural 
schools 



Negro city 
schools 



Years 
over age 



Years behind in 
arithmetic and 
reading 



Figure 6. The number of years which fifth grade white and Negro 
rural pupils, and Negro city pupils, are behind city white pupils when 
results of arithmetic and reading tests and ages of pupils are considered. 

through their respective grades and the scores of a ma- 
jority of the rural pupils represent the work of pupils 
nearly at the end of their grades. 



io8 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

The real situation with respect to the work of the rural 
schools, however, is not revealed unless the ages of the 



1 teacher 
schools 



2 teacher 
schools 



3 teacher 
schools 



1 year 



Years Behind 
2 years 3 years 4 years 



4 teacher 
schools 

5 teacher 
schools 

schools 

Hegro rural 
schools 



Negro city 
schools 




Years 
over age 



Years hehmd in 
arithmetic and 
reading 



Figure 7. The number of years which eighth grade white and Negro 
rural pupils, and Negro city pupils, are behind city white pupils when 
results of arithmetic and reading tests and ages of pupils are considered. 

pupils are considered in connection with their achieve- 
ments. Pupils in the city schools and in the larger rural 
schools are younger grade for grade than the pupils in the 





Graded School District Schoolhouscs of Ik^tter Type 



PUPIL PROGRESS AND INSTRUCTION 109 

small rural schools. Rural fifth grade children are on 
the average a year and seven months older than city 
children. In the eighth grade there is a difference of 
thirteen months. (See Table V, Appendix.) When 
differences in age, and the combined achievements in 
reading and arithmetic are taken into account, rural 
children in one-room schools are really two and a half 
years behind city children. Though the tests show steady 
improvement as the number of teachers increases, 
even so, rural schools with six or more teachers are 
two-thirds of a year behind city schools. (Figures 6 
and 7.) 

When the work of rural pupils of any grade is compared 
with the wcrk of city pupils of the same grade it must 
be admitted that the comparison is between two groups 
not equally well defined. To permit a comparison be- 
tween two definite groups, the average reading scores 
were computed for all thirteen-year-old children in grades 
3 to 8 in one-room schools and in city schools. (See 
Table VII, Appendix.) The reading score of 38.1 which 
was made by thirteen-year-old children from the one- 
room schools represents work normally done by children 
less than ten years old; the score of 48.8 made by city 
thirteen-year-olds represents a quality of work a little 
better than that usually done by twelve-year-old pupils. 
Again, the achievements of the rural thirteen-year-olds 
are about what could be expected of pupils beginning the 
fourth grade (nine to ten years of a,ge) and the achieve- 
ments of the city thirteen-year-olds are about what could 



no PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

be expected of beginning sixth grade pupils (eleven to 
twelve years old) . Rural pupils of this age are, therefore, 
from two to two and a half years behind the city 
pupils. 

Measured by what city pupils do, it is evident that the 
rural schools of the state, especially the small ones, fail 
miserably in teaching their pupils to read. It is not 
too much to ask that the rural children of Kentucky 
should approach more closely to the performance of the 
city children, especially as the results in reading even 
in the city schools of Kentucky are, in general, a year 
below the standard of similar schools in other states. 
Schools that can get no better results in reading than 
these are unable to prevent illiteracy, and it is, not sur- 
prising that Kentucky stands among the states today 
practically where it stood twenty years ago in the rela- 
tive amoimt of illiteracy. 



HISTORY 

History is taught for two purposes — ^first, that children 
may know outstanding events, second that they may be 
able to think about important questions adapted to their 
years. The test was so constructed as to deal with both 
objects. Pupils were, for example, asked why they 
celebrate the Fourth of July; they were also asked to read 
and interpret a simple passage deahng with historic 
events. In order to answer correctly, they had, of course, 
to read and to understand what they had Just read; but 



PUPIL PROGRESS AND INSTRUCTION m 

as they read poorly, they were bound to make a poor 
showing in history. (See Table VIII, Appendix.) On 
the basis of results obtained in other states, eighth grade 
pupils of one-room schools in Kentucky answered fewer 
fact questions than sLxth grade children of good schools 
elsewhere, and they made almost a complete failure in 
questions requiring interpretation of the passage to be 
read. In fact, a fifth of the eighth grade pupils examined 
failed to answer correctly a single question requiring 
thought. Though the scores of city eighth grade pupils 
both in the fact and thought questions were considerably 
higher than the rural school scores, even they did not come 
up to the standard reached by city school children in 
other states. 

SPELLING 

To find out how well the elementary schools teach 
spelling, two lists of twenty words each were pronounced 
to the pupils, which they were asked to write. The 
following words were used for the fifth grade: animal, 
barrel, beauty, famous, careful, break, crowd, election, ex- 
ample, friendship, gentlemen, headache, holiday, owner, 
property, question, ribbon, saddle, skirt, desire. The list 
for the seventh grade included, announcement, appear- 
ance, arrangement, attendance, ballot, response, cordial, 
customary, disease, enormous, excellent, familiar, individ- 
ual, interfere, science, mechanical, necessary, original, prob- 
ably, planned. 

These are all common words and should be familiar 



112 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

to the pupils of Kentucky. Of the twenty words given 
to the fifth grade, eighteen are taught below the fifth 
grade. Two of the words, headache audi friendship , are 
not studied until the sixth grade. Of the words given 
to the seventh and eighth grade pupils, five are first 
studied in the fourth grade, six in the fifth, three in the 
sixth, and three in the seventh. Three words, individual, 
mechanical, and response, are not in their spelKng books. 
With the exception of three words, the pupils were not 
asked to spell any word which they were not required by 
the state course of study to learn — to learn, indeed, as a 
rule, before reaching the grade to which the test was 
given. 

What were the results? 

While in other parts of the country, fifth grade pupils 
on the average spell correctly 15 out of 20 of the words 
given, in rural schools of Kentucky, the children spell on 
the average less than ten of them correctly; eighth grade 
pupils in the small country schools did little better than 
city seventh grade pupils. The average for each of 
the grades tested in cities falls almost a full grade 
below what it should have been. (See Table IX, Ap- 
pendix.) 



ARITHMETIC 

In arithmetic pupils were examined in addition and 
multipHcation. The tests consisted of series of problems 
which began with very simple ones and advanced to more 



PUPIL PROGRESS AND INSTRUCTION 113 



difficult ones. 
in addition : 

2 

3 



The following are representative of those 



23 

25 

16 



00 
75 
33 
16 

94 

32 



49 
28 

63 
95 
69 
22 

33 
36 
01 

56 
88 

75 
56 
10 
18 
56 



The following are representative of those in multiplica- 
tion: 
3x7= so 8754 16 

3 82! 



2I X 3^ = 



The results of the arithmetic tests in general do not 
vary from those of the other tests. (See Tables X and 
XI, Appendix.) City fifth grade pupils did addition 
work which was about three-quarters of a year below 
what should normally be expected of them. City eighth 



114 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

grade addition scores were about a year behind the aver- 
age achievement of pupils in other states. Rural schools 
did very poor work in addition. The addition scores 
taken in connection with the ages of the pupils indicate 
that the addition work of fifth and eighth grades in the 
one-room schools is about two and three-quarter years 
behind that of the same city grades. City schools did 
about the same quahty of work in multipHcation that they 
did in addition, but the rural schools did better in mul- 
tiplication. Nevertheless, fifth and eighth grade pupils 
from one-room schools made average scores which show 
that they are more than two grades below city pupils of 
these grades. 

HANDWRITING 

No formal measurement of handwriting was attempted, 
but a simple measure was applied to the writing of third 
and fourth grade pupils: Did they write their names on 
the test papers clearly enough to be read? Of the 1,929 
third grade pupils, 412, or 21 per cent., failed to write 
their names so that they could be deciphered. Of the 
1,290 names on fourth grade papers, 73, or 6 per cent., 
could not be read. This, after three and four years in 
school! 

PROPORTION OF PUPILS REACHING STANDARD SCORES 

The foregoing discussion is based mainly on average 
scores of pupils in the different grades and in the different 
types of schools. Variations in scores of individual pu- 
pils above and below the average have been disregarded. 






I, ;.;iHllimillll 



Old-Style Schoolhouses of City School Districts 



PUPIL PROGRESS AND INSTRUCTION 115 

Table XII of the Appendix presents some of these varia- 
tions. The first step in preparing this table was to de- 
termine the percentage of eighth grade pupils who made 
scores in reading and arithmetic up to or above the nor- 
mal scores for tliis grade, and the percentage who made 
scores at all below normal, below more than one year, 
two, three, four, or five years. These percentages were 
then averaged. The results in this form show perhaps 
better than average scores how poor is the work of the 
small rural school. 

Only one eighth grade pupil in ten from the one-room 
schools, it will be observed, had scores up to normal. 
The other nine did work which was from less than one 
grade to more than five grades below standard. In con- 
trast, of every ten city pupils three made scores up to or 
above the score normally expected of good eighth grade 
pupils, while seven had lower scores. Nearly two-thirds 
of the pupils from one-room schools were below the sixth 
grade standard, while only slightly more than a third of 
city eighth grade children fell so low. Forty-one per 
cent, of rural pupils and 13 per cent, of city pupils were 
below the fifth grade standard; 24 per cent, of rural pupils 
and 6 per cent, of city pupils were below fourth grade 
standard; and six per cent, of rural pupils, but almost no 
city pupils were below the third grade standard. 

RESULTS OF TESTS IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 

It needs no argument to show that the small rural 
schools of Kentucky do very poor work. In no county was 



ii6 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

the average achievement of pupils from one-room schools 
in any grade or in any subject as good as the achievement 
of city pupils, which is usually inferior to that of similar 
pupils in other states. In general, the achievements of 
rural pupils were so poor that such pupils will need one, 
two, or more years of additional training before they can 
equal the performance of city pupils of the same grade in 
Kentucky. The results from these rural schools would 
be bad enough if a minority of Kentucky children were 
educated in them. Unfortunately, one-half of the chil- 
dren of the state and three-fourths of all the rural chil- 
dren attend one-room schools. 

Results from the larger subdistrict and graded district 
schools are better, but still not satisfactory. In general, 
the more teachers there are in a school, and the longer the 
school year, the better the achievement of the pupils. 
The best results are obtained in the large, well organized 
city schools. 

NEGRO SCHOOLS 

The scores of the tests given in Negro rural and city 
schools are considerably lower than those from the 
corresponding white schools. Negro pupils in city schools 
did better work than Negro pupils in the rural schools, 
but the difference between the work of these two groups 
is not nearly so great as the difference between the work 
of city and rural white pupils. City Negro pupils in the 
three grades for which the results were tabulated did 
work which was about equal to that done by the 



PUPIL PROGRESS AND INSTRUCTION 117 

white pupils of the same grades in the rural one-room 
schools. 

SUMMARY 

On the basis of the foregoing tests, it appears that the 
city elementary schools are below the standard reached 
in other states in some cases as much as a year. The 
showing of the rural elementary schools, especially of the 
one-room rural schools, is wretchedly poor; they are 
generally two to three years below standard. 

In a word, the unsatisfactory conditions in respect to 
the organization and administration of the public schools 
of Kentucky have their inevitable result. Politics, lack 
of training, lack of interest combine to render the schools 
of Kentucky among the very poorest that, up to this 
time, have been tested. 



VIII. HIGH SCHOOLS 

OUTSIDE the cities and a few progressive graded 
school districts, the Kentucky high school is a 
distinctly recent development. Prior to 1908, 
there were approximately 100 high schools in the state — ■ 
practically none of them in the country. The law of 
1908 created the rural high school, and that of 19 16 was 
intended to procure high school opportunities for graded 
school children. As a result of these acts high schools 
rapidly multiplied. 

There were in 1921, 404^^ white and 28 colored public 
high schools in the state, the white public high schools en- 
rolling, in 1920-1921, 25,939 pupils, the colored, 1,446. In 
June 1921, the white high schools graduated 2,952 pupils, 
the colored, 161. Of the 326 high schools established 
since 1908, 82 are under the control of county boards of 
education. Rural children, however, have access to 
more than 82 schools. The law of 1908, requiring county 
boards to estabhsh high schools, permitted them to enter 
into contract with city and graded school districts to pro- 
vide rural children with high school instruction. One 



^There were probably 1 7 more white high schools, but the state depart- 
ment of education has no reports from them. 

118 



HIGH SCHOOLS ng 

hundred and forty-eight (148) such contracts are now in 
force, so that, altogether, rural children have access to 
230 high schools. 

QUALITY OF HIGH SCHOOLS 

The rural high school should freely recognize the inter- 
ests and needs of rural life. Unfortunately for this con- 
ception of high school education, there are only 82 high 
schools which are under the direct control of county boards 
of education and can be made distinctively rural. The 
other 148 open to rural children are located either in cities 
or towns and villages, chiefly in the latter. These town 
and \dllage high schools follow courses of study that lead 
cityward. The cooperation of rural districts and towns 
and ^dllages in the establishment of high schools is on the 
whole desirable, for a better school can be created through 
joint effort than either party could maintain alone; it is 
important, however, that the curriculum of the joint 
school should take account of the rural factor — an en- 
tirely feasible undertaking. 

So recent a development as public high schools could 
not in the very nature of things be entirely satisfactory. 
In a state where previously nothing of the sort had 
existed, the fiat of the law could not miraculously evolve 
the necessary buildings, equipment, and trained teachers. 
It wall not surprise us, therefore, to learn that Kentucky 
to-day possesses, not a high school system, but the mere 
skeleton of a high school system. Intelligent effort and 
increased expenditure over a period of years will be re- 



I20 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

quired if the skeleton is to be converted into a living 
thing. 

The county high school law did nothing more than 
define high schools in terms of the length of the course 
offered; it provided that a first class high school should 
offer a four-year course of study; a second class high 
school, a three-year course; and a third class high school, 
a two-year course — all with a minimum year of eight 
months. Thus classified, public high schools were 
ranked as follows in 192 1 ; 

320 first class, 

24 second class, 

86 third class, 
2 unknown or unclassified. 
Obviously this method of classification ignores all the 
factors involved in making a good school except the 
number of years of instruction offered. Even among the 
schools grouped as first class, the quality of the instruc- 
tion must vary greatly, depending, as it does, on the 
number of teachers employed, their experience and pre- 
paration, upon equipment, buildings, and other factors. 
The Association of Kentucky Colleges undertakes to 
classify high schools on the basis of their educational 
facilities. On this basis the 320 first class high schools 
decrease to 89; the second class increase to 131; whereas 
212 are "unaccredited" — i. e., in the judgment of the 
Kentuckians, which is not and should not be too exact- 
ing, 212 Kentucky high schools are so inferior in equip- 
ment and teaching staff that they caimot be definitely 





]\Iiddle-Period Schoolhouses of Citv School Districts 



HIGH SCHOOLS 121 

classified. Thus, despite the rapid multiplication of 
high schools in the last thirteen years, out of 120 counties 
in the state, 3 have no public high school at all, and 56 
are without a high school that the state colleges regard 
as first class. 

The fundamental defect arises from the lack of trained 
teachers. Higher certificates of all kinds, whether 
issued by the state board of examiners, the state univer- 
sity, or the normal schools, have always been valid in 
high schools. Many teachers are now teaching on these 
old certificates, issued without the slightest regard to 
proper qualifications for high school instruction. Others 
are teaching on county certificates, and still others have 
no certificate of any kind. The result is that only 23 per 
cent, of the high school teachers in service are properly 
prepared for their work. 

The number of teachers employed is also frequently 
inadequate. The Association of Kentucky Colleges 
requires an accredited school of "A" grade to possess at 
least 3 teachers — surely not an excessive staff. Of the 
432 public high schools, 133 have only two teachers, and 
loi have only one teacher. 

Of course, the teachers are also overburdened. In 231 
Kentucky high schools, teachers are required to teach 
in excess of six periods daily; and this is probably true 
in even more schools, since we have no information on the 
subject in 59 schools. With so heavy a schedule, the 
best prepared high school teachers can with great diffi- 
culty do good work; and good work is impossible when 



122 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

teachers are poorly prepared, as three-fourths of them 
are. 

High school teachers likewise work without adequate 
equipment. Outside the large cities, the high school 
usually occupies two or three rooms in an elementary 
school building.^ There is rarely a study hall, seldom 
a good Hbrary, and almost never adequate provisions 
for science. The reports to the state inspector of high 
schools show that a considerable sum has been spent in 
the last decade for scientific apparatus, but change of 
principal and teachers is so frequent that, owing to lack 
of care, most of this apparatus has disappeared. 

Nor are high school teachers properly supervised. 
In the cities the time of the high school principal is 
devoted almost exclusively to organization and adminis- 
tration. Outside the cities high school principals do 
five or six hours' teaching daily, leaving only an oc- 
casional hour free for conference and supervision. The 
untrained and overburdened teacher, therefore, works 
practically without direction or advice. 

Since 1910 there has been a state high school inspector 
and supervisor. Until recently his duties were fourfold: 
(i) He was professor of secondary education at the 
state university, and during the winter months gave 
instruction in high school organization, administration, 
and methods of instruction; (2) he visited county high 
schools to see whether or not they met the legal require- 



^In a small system, a combination elementary and high school building 
is desirable, and need not prevent proper provisions for the high school. 



HIGH SCHOOLS 123 

ments for such schools; (3) he acted as the agent of the 
Association of Kentucky Colleges, preparing for them 
annually a list of accredited schools, both public and 
private; (4) he acted more recently as director of 
vocational education. In 1920-192 1 his work was 
divided, so that there is now one person serving as pro- 
fessor of secondary education at the university, one 
person as director of vocational education, and one 
person in the office of the state department of education 
devoting his entire time to* inspection and supervision 
of high schools. 

The state inspector has devoted himself conscienti- 
ously to his duties — visiting high schools, issuing courses 
of study, holding conferences, delivering public addresses, 
etc. It should, however, be apparent that his many 
duties leave him little time for supervision. 

Even a high school inspector who gave all his attention 
to supervision, could not under existing circumstances 
meet the need. Calls for public addresses, settlement of 
legal and technical questions, inspection of schools, both 
public and private, seeking to be accredited by the 
colleges, consume his time and energy. Either local 
principals must have more time for supervision, or 
additional state supervisors must be employed if high 
school teachers are to get the help needed to enable them 
to do good work. 

Serious as are the foregoing limitations, none of them 
is as disastrous as the poor preparation of the pupils. 
On this subject, impressions obtained through visits are 



124 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

sustained by the evidence procured through actual 
examinations and tests. In order to ascertain (i) 
whether high school pupils are qualified to do high 
school work, and (2) how well they do in a given subject, 
high school pupils were tested in reading and algebra. 
The reading test was the same as that used in the ele- 
mentary school; algebra tests involved addition, sub- 
traction, equations, and the use of formulae. 

The results from the reading tests in the high schools 
correspond closely with those obtained in the elementary 
schools. (See Table XIII, Appendix.) As city ele- 
mentary schools do better reading work than rural ele- 
mentary schools, so city high schools do better work than 
rural high schools. First year city high school pupils 
in reading are, on the average, more than a year ahead 
of first year rural high school pupils. In the other classes 
the difference amounts to about two years. But city 
high school reading results in Kentucky are below the 
achievements of good city high schools in other states. 
The first year high school pupils make an average reading 
score below what is normally expected of eighth grade 
pupils. The fourth year class come within half a year of 
being up to grade. 

Rural high school pupils are also somewhat older than 
city high school pupils. In the first and second years the 
difference in average ages is about five months, in the 
third year, eight months, and in the fourth year, six 
months. 

Variations in high school reading scores of individual 



HIGH SCHOOLS 125 

pupils are shown in Table XIV of the Appendix. Of all 
the city high school pupils who took the reading test, 37 
per cent, made scores which were up to or above the 
standard for the respective classes. Compared with this, 
only 22 per cent, of rural high school pupils came up to 
standard. The first year class, both in city and rural high 
schools, had the largest proportion of pupils with scores 
below normal. In the rural high schools, 29 per cent, of the 
first year pupils, 28 per cent, of the second year pupils, 
7 per cent, of the third year pupils, and 11 per cent, of 
the fourth year pupils made scores below the standard 
which ought to be reached by sixth grade pupils and 
which is reached by sixth grade pupils in good schools. 
In the cities, 12 per cent, of the first year class, 5 per cent, 
of the second, 3 per cent, of the third, and i per cent, of 
the fourth fell as low. 

The results in algebra were tabulated according to 
the length of time pupils had studied the subject. (See 
Table XV, Appendix.) In the city high schools, pupils 
who had studied algebra from three to five months were 
but little below standard; those who had pursued the 
subject for longer periods did not do so well. In none of 
the groups was the score of rural high schools as high 
as those of city high schools. Rural pupils who had 
studied algebra from three to five months fell consider- 
ably below the standard for this group. Those who had 
studied the subject from eleven to fourteen months did 
little better than well-trained pupils of only from three 
to five months. 



126 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

In a word : A third of the freshmen in city high schools 
have less than seventh grade reading ability; in rural high 
schools a half have less than seventh grade, and a fourth 
less than sixth grade, reading ability. In the cities the 
difl&culty due to inferior preparation in reading is serious, 
but not insuperable ; rural high schools, however, simply 
cannot do good high school work with pupils so poorly 
trained in reading. A good high school cannot be built 
on the basis of a six months' elementary school, in- 
efficiently conducted at that. 

COURSES OF STUDY 

Kentucky high schools usually offer a single course of 
study — a classical, an English, or a scientific course — 
following in each instance the outline furnished by the 
state board of education. Latin is required only in the 
classical course. The English course is probably the 
most common, although the classical is a close com- 
petitor. In 1920, 148 schools gave the English course; 
142, the classical; 57, the scientific; 85 made no report. 
Whatever the course, there is actually little Latin taught 
and less science. 

In a few larger cities there are four-year commercial 
courses which prepare directly for clerical positions. A 
few also give manual training for boys and home econ- 
omics for girls; and three provide rather extensive in- 
dustrial courses, including blacksmithing, foundry, press 
drill work, etc. 

Recently a number of rural high schools have been en- 



HIGH SCHOOLS 127 

couraged to offer agriculture and home economics. The 
Smith-Hughes federal fund is available for this purpose. 
Federal authorities pay approximately 50 per cent, of the 
salaries of teachers of agriculture and related sciences, 
and about one-eighth of the salaries of teachers of home 
economics; the remainder is paid by local authorities. 
Some $31,523 of federal funds was so expended in 1920- 
192 1 for agriculture, and $3,283 for home economics. 
Thirty (30) white and i colored high schools now comply 
with the Smith-Hughes requirements in agriculture and 
in related sciences; 17 white and 2 colored, with the 
Smith-Hughes requirements in home economics. 

It is too early to pass final judgment on this work, but 
two things are becoming clear. First, it is expensive. 
In one school the instructional cost of agriculture and 
related sciences alone in 1920-192 1 was $170 per pupil 
enrolled, and for these subjects the state average cost 
per pupil enrolled was $63.45.^ Home economics is less 
expensive, and yet the average for 1920-192 1 per pupil 
enrolled was $17.66. In contrast, the state average in- 
structional cost for all high school work per pupil en- 
rolled was $69. 

Second, Smith-Hughes work does not reach, except 
in rare instances, either all the boys or all the girls of a 



'In considering the cost of Smith-Hughes agriculture and related 
sciences, it should be taken into account that the teacher. of these sub- 
jects works eleven months a year and not the usual eight to ten months; 
after school adjourns he supervises the boys' home projects and advises 
the farmers of the neighborhood. 



128 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

school. Under present federal regulations, only such 
boys and girls are admitted to these classes as will give 
half of their entire school time to agriculture and related 
sciences or home economics. Many boys and girls refuse 
to give so much time to these studies. The Smith- 
Hughes courses therefore do not ordinarily lessen the 
number of teachers required to carry the usual high school 
branches ; a full program must be carried for pupils who 
do not take agriculture or home economics. Hence, 
the Smith-Hughes work is, as a rule, an additional ex- 
pense over and above t.he usual high school cost. 

As pointed out above, the rural schools urgently need 
more science teaching, just as they need more and better 
teaching in other directions. The teachers of agriculture 
might readily teach science; the teachers of home 
economics might teach art; and both agriculture and 
home economics might be open to pupils who give less 
than half their time to these subjects. Unless some such 
larger use can be made of these teachers, it would seem 
that the work in agriculture, if not also the work in home 
economics, encouraged by Smith-Hughes aid, imposes an 
unnecessarily heavy burden on the community, and will 
retard general high school development. 

LARGER HIGH SCHOOLS 

Kentucky high schools are mostly small. Of the 432, 
234 are one- and two-teacher schools. A single small 
county has 9 high schools, only 2 of which are of reason- 
able size. One cannot say offhand how many high 







^ 


^ 


,/ 








■^ 


''P 


"^ v^iTTl 


U^ 


^^■:. 






1, 


1 

*- 




•^.■■"-> 


^ 




■-j 


• 1 

ll 


■^^-rr- 


^' 






.,J 






^^H 






H\ 




^ „.„,.:; 






^lodern City Schoolhouses of the Poorer T>T5e 



HIGH SCHOOLS 129 

schools a county should have, but it can be stated as a 
principle that the small high school is as undesirable as 
the small elementary school. Indeed, the high cost of 
secondary education, and the greater relative efficiency 
of the large over the small high school, both with respect 
to the range of opportunities offered and the quality of 
instruction, make the consoHdation of small high schools 
as imperative as the consolidation of one-teacher ele- 
mentary schools. 

Small high schools have too often been established 
to meet a local demand, without regard to the high 
school needs of the county viewed as a whole. It is one 
of the great advantages of the county unit that a compre- 
hensive view can be taken of the entire situation. Every 
high school estabhshed should be an essential part of a 
well-conceived plan aiming to bring high school advan- 
tages within reach of all the children of the county. It 
may still be necessary, on account of transportation 
difficulties, to establish small high schools with one- and 
two-year courses, but the number of high schools in a 
county must be kept to the minimum, if cost and efficiency 
are to be taken into account. 

The existence of so many small high schools, and the 
attempt of so many to give a four-year course when they 
have neither the requisite teaching force nor equipment, 
make imperative the adoption of appropriate high school 
standards. On the basis of acceptable standards, instead 
of having 220 fairly good public high schools, Kentucky 
has probably not more than 60 good high schools at 



I30 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

this time. The state should know the truth, and seek 
to increase the number of standard schools, rather than 
rest content under the impression that the high school 
situation is even fairly satisfactory. In the appHcation 
of higher standards, private schools should not be ex- 
empt. The state department of education should possess 
the authority to visit, classify and inspect private 
schools in order that the public may not be misled. 

SPECIAL STATE AID 

Three (3) counties have no high school; 56 counties 
have nothing approaching a standard high school; 52 
graded school districts have neither high schools of their 
own nor make provision for the high school tuition 
of their pupils elsewhere. Many other graded school 
districts and even fourth class cities sacrifice their ele- 
mentary schools in attempting to support high schools. 
In short, the cost of good high schools is more than a 
poor county or community can bear. For this reason 
no state has been able to develop an efficient high school 
system without special state aid. Such assistance is 
especially needed in Kentucky owing to the great dif- 
ferences in wealth and number of children to be educated. 
Unless Kentucky sets apart a portion of the conurion 
school fund to be used in giving special high school aid, 
or the general assembly can make an appropriation from 
the general treasury for this purpose, high school progress 
will be extremely uneven and slow. Failure to give the 
necessary special state aid: would be unfortunate. The 



HIGH SCHOOLS 131 

state must look to the high schools if the common 
schools are to have better trained teachers; on the high 
schools depend the elevation of the general intelUgence 
of the people, and the development of the colleges and 
universities, to which the state must look for leaders. 



IX. SCHOOL FINANCES 

WHAT does Kentucky pay for its schools? 
Does it pay much for the Httle it gets or does 
it get little because it pays little? And how 
is the money obtained? 

CAPITAL INVESTMENT AND CUREENT COST 

School costs cover capital outlay for grounds, build- 
ings, and equipment, and current expenses for mainte- 
nance and operation. Kentucky had invested in school 
plant in 1917-1918 $22,860,990, a state average per pupil 
enrolled of $42.86; a city average of $109.63, and a 
rural average of $30.08. The average for the United 
States for the same date was $95.12; the city average, 
$146.62; the rural average, $59.07.^ That is, approxi- 
mately speaking, Kentucky as a state invests in school 
property per child enrolled less than half of the amount 
that the country at large invests; the cities invest per 
child one-third less than do cities of the country at large ; 
the counties invest per child about half the amount 
that the country districts throughout the Union invest. 
Unfortunately, comparative data for 1920-192 1 are not 

^These comparative data are for 1917-1918 and are taken from Bulle- 
tin No. 31 (1920 ) of the Bureau of Education. 

132 



SCHOOL FINANCES 133 

available either for Kentucky or for the other states. 
Kentucky stood, however, in 1918, fortieth among the 
states in capital invested in school property. There 
may have been a slight relative improvement in rank 
since 1918. But even if this improvement is taken into 
account, it is easy to see why Kentucky's school plant is 
poor. Kentucky has probably gotten as much for what 
it has spent as many another state, but, as pointed out in 
Chapter V, approximately a half of all the money now 
invested in schoolhouses has been wasted because of 
poor building plans — an ob\dous consequence of having 
an undermanned and poorly organized state department 
of education. 

Current school expenditures for 191 7-19 18 were 
$8,308,640, a state average per pupil enrolled of $15.58, 
a city average of $30.33, a rural average of $12.75, The 
average current expenditure for the United States for 
the same year was $30.91; city average, $40.60; rural 
average, $24.13. Again, we lack comparable data for 
1920-192 1 from Kentucky and from other states. Ken- 
tucky's current school expenditures have doubtless in- 
creased considerably within recent years, but, as with 
school property, its ranking has probably not materially 
changed from that of 19 18, when it stood fortieth in 
current school expenditures. Kentucky's city school 
expenditures, it will be noted, were in 1917-1918 only 
about three-fourths of the country-wide city average, 
and rural school current expenditures only about a half 
of the country-wdde rural average. Good city and rural 



134 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

schools cost as much in Kentucky as elsewhere. Indeed, 
there are reasons to believe that they will cost more, 
for Kentucky has no large body of well-trained teach- 
ers. 

The educational status of a state is not to be fixed 
merely by the amount it spends on schools; the financial 
sacrifice made must also be considered. This sacrifice 
is expressed in the relation between school expenditures 
and taxable wealth. While detailed information on this 
point is neither complete nor satisfactory, the data 
available suggest that Kentucky is to be ranked with the 
states bearing a "medium to Kght school tax burden,"^ 
and therefore is not doing its plain duty. 

STATE SCHOOL SUPPORT 

Money for public schools comes from two main sources 
— from the state^ and from local school units, the latter 
comprising county, graded school, and city school dis- 
tricts. 

The state has a productive common school fund of 798 
shares of the stock of the National Bank of Kentucky, 
which yields about $8,000 a year. It also has a so-called 
common school fund of $1,933,641.03. This is in the 
form of two six per cent, bonds drawn by the common- 
wealth in favor of the state board of education. The 



iSee Educational Administration and Supervision, April, 1921. 

^A relatively small sum is received annually from the federal govern- 
ment for the encouragement of agriculture, home economics, and in- 
dustrial education. This amounted in 1920-1921 to $34,805.95. 



SCHOOL FINANCES 135 

first bond is for $1,327,000, derived in part from the 
surplus revenue distributed in 1837 to the states by the 
federal government; the second bond is for $606,641.03, 
derived from the return of direct taxes by the federal 
government in 1892. 

The constitution renders this $1,933,641.03 inviolable 
and dedicates the income therefrom to the support of 
common schools. As a matter of fact, no such fund 
exists. The state spent the principal, thereby reUeving 
past generations of legitimate taxes. Hence the schools 
do not really get $1 16,000 annually over and above what l^ 
the people are now willing to pay for the support of the 
schools. A state tax is levied for the sinking fund com- 
mission, which pays over to the state board of education 
the interest on this fictitious common school fund. For 
all practical purposes the same tax might as well be 
levied directly for the schools. The common school 
fund, with the exception of the 798 shares of bank stock, 
is therefore nothing but a name. 

To provide for the schools and its other activities, 
the state levies a tax of 40 cents upon each $100 value 
of all property directed to be assessed for taxation. Eigh- 
teen-fortieths "of the aggregate amount of tax realized 
by all assessments under this forty cent rate" constitutes 
the entire support of the common schools derived from 
state taxes and the so-called common school fund. 
The schools also receive their proportionate share of 
fines, forfeitures, licenses, etc., and of the inheritance 
tax. The total so derived during the fiscal year end- 



136 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

ing June 30, 192 1, and allotted to the common schools 
was $4,053,507. 

Within recent years the state school tax rate has been 
lowered repeatedly. Between 1904 and 1906, it was 
26I cents; between 1906 and 1918, 26 cents; and since 
1918, it has been 18 cents. Notwithstanding these re- 
ductions in school tax rates, the amounts derived from 
state sources for the common schools is slowly increasing. 
For example: 

1910-1911, $2,985,565 

1915-1916, 3,373,926 

1920-1921, 4,347,715 

On the other hand, a smaller and smaller part of the 
state's total income is going to the common schools. In 
1910-1911, 41 per cent, went to them, in 1915-1916, 38 
per cent., and in 1920-192 1, 29 per cent. The state's 
income increased between 191 1 and 192 1, 104 per cent., 
whereas the state's support of the common schools in- 
creased only 46 per cent. That a state should be doing 
less and less, in proportion to its income, for common 
schools, especially at a time when the cost of public 
education is mounting by leaps and bounds, is ex- 
tremely significant. Any such movement should be 
scrutinized carefully lest the children suffer. 

State common school funds have almost from the be- 
ginning been used for two purposes only. From them are 
first paid all expenses of the state department of educa- 
tion. These were, for 1920-1921, $37,521. The re- 
mainder is then apportioned to the counties for teachers' 





City Schoolhouses of the Better Tj^dc 



SCHOOL FINANCES 137 

salaries.^ The apportionment to the counties has 
always been made on the basis of school population, 
that is, the number of children between specified ages. 
These ages have changed from time to time, but now 
include all children between six and eighteen years old. 
The school population of the state in 192 1 was 646,569. 
Dividing the total amount to be apportioned in any one 
year by the number of school census children in the state 
for that year gives the state per capita, which for 1920- 
192 1 was $6.10. The amount of state funds going to a 
county is then found by multiplying this per capita by 
the number of school census children in the county. 

This method of distributing state school funds was 
first fixed by statute, but since 1891 has been fixed by 
the state constitution. When adopted, it undoubtedly 
seemed equitable. There was then neither state school 
tax nor county school tax. State school funds, derived 
entirely from the interest on the gift from the federal gov- 
ernment, were practically the whole support of rural 
schools. It was therefore felt that each county should 
share in proportion to the children to be educated, and 
likewise each district within the county, for nothing 
seemed easier than to subdivide a county into districts 
having a uniform number of school children. 

The injustice and unwisdom of this mechanical method 



Wo mention is made of the apportionment of state funds to graded 
school and city school districts, for in distributing state funds the school 
population of these districts is included in the school population of the 
respective counties. 



138 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

of distributing state school funds became evident first 
in the districts. Ordinary geographical obstacles, such 
as mountains, rivers, swamps, and differences in density 
of population and lack of roads, make it impossible to 
divide a county into districts having a uniform number 
of children. For example, there were in Pulaski County 
in 1843, 59 districts, in which the children of school age 
ranged in number from 11 to 114, so that the largest 
district received ten times more money from the state 
than the smallest, although each district required a 
teacher. In 1852, Fayette County had, exclusive of 
Lexington, 27 districts, with the number of census pupils 
ranging from 21 to 100, with a corresponding difference 
in the amount of money received from the state for the 
support of schools in the respective districts. Relying, 
as practically all rural districts did up to 1908, entirely 
on state funds for the payment of teachers' salaries, the 
schools provided varied in quality from district to dis- 
trict. To illustrate, the school term in the 59 districts 
of Pulaski County in 1843 ranged from three months to 
seven months, and in Fayette County in 1852 from three 
to eleven months. There was a corresponding difference 
in the salaries paid to teachers; the monthly salary in 
Fayette in 1852 ranged from $13.70 to $63.00. 

These inequalities were not overlooked, although 
nothing was done to reduce them until 1893. At that 
time, the state superintendent was required, in making 
his apportionments to the several districts of a county, 
first to apportion to each district, without regard to 



SCHOOL FINANCES T39 

school population, the per capita for 45 pupils, and to 
prorate the remainder among the districts having more 
than 45 children on the basis of their school population. 
This method of distribution, as changed from time to 
time, tended to diminish the grossest differences in, 
length of term and teachers' salaries, but the differences'! 
were not finally eliminated until 191 2, when the district' 
and its school population were dropped as the basis 
within the county for distributing both state and county 
funds. Thereafter each district shared in the funds 
available, both state and county, according to its needs; 
the length of term of all schools within a county became 
uniform, and all teachers in the same county were paid 
on a common basis. 

But the changes of 1912, so beneficial to the district, 
did nothing to ehminate equally glaring inequahties 
among the counties. These inequahties have become 
especially apparent as the counties participate more 
actively in the financial support of their respective 
schools. The present method of distribution places all 
counties on the same educational basis, so far as state 
funds go, for each receives the same amount for each 
school census child. But all differences in the financial ] 
abihty of the counties to contribute locally to the sup-/ 
port of good schools are ignored. For example, Bourbon 
County in 1920 had back of each child of school age 
$7,615 of taxable property; Jefferson, $4,861;^ Carter, 



'The amount in Jefferson is doubtless considerably higher, as in all 
these compilations certain corporate property is excluded. 



I40 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

$i,o66; and Magoffin, $545; with an average for the 
state of $2,452. The welfare of the state requires that 
the children of Magoffin get as good an elementary educa- 
tion as the children of Carter or Jefferson; and the more 
nearly this goal can be attained, the better for the entire 
commonwealth. Yet for Magoffin to raise locally the 
same amount of school money per child of school age as 
Bourbon would require a tax rate thirteen times higher 
than that of Bourbon; similarly, for Carter to raise the 
same amount as Jefferson would require a tax rate almost 
five times higher than that of Jefferson. Owing to these 
striking differences in local ability to support schools, 
counties that make the same local financial sacrifice do 
not enjoy equally good schools. For example, in 1920- 
192 1, Carter County levied a 50-cent school tax and 
maintained its schools six months; it was, however, not 
able to pay the legal minimum wage to its teachers, al- 
though a majority of them hold the lowest grade of state 
certificates. In contrast, Jefferson County on the same 
tax rate maintained its schools eight or nine months and 
was able not only to pay the legal minimum wage, but to 
employ a relatively large proportion of well-trained 
teachers. 

A method of distributing state school funds that thus 
ignores differences in financial resources, ignores differ- 
ences in the grade and in the quahty of the schools 
although there is equal wilHngness on the part of 
the people to make sacrifices for them, and ignores the 
state's responsibility to provide equal educational oppor- 



SCHOOL FINANCES 141 

tunities of a satisfactory standard for all the children of 
the commonwealth, ought not to be longer tolerated. 
Sound policy requires that these differences be taken into 
account in distributing state school funds. Kentucky is, 
however, tied by the constitution to this unwise and 
antiquated method of distributing state school funds. 

LOCAL SCHOOL SUPPORT 

The second source of public school support is local 
school taxes. Every county and city school district 
and practically every graded school district now levies 
such a tax. The total amount so raised in 1920-192 1 
was probably about $7,500,000. 

The state never supposed that the state fund would 
alone be sufficient to support good schools. The first 
school law provided for local school taxes, although such 
levy was optional with the district. State funds might 
be used to pay teachers, but, from the organization of the 
system, local school units have been responsible for 
school grounds, buildings, equipment and incidental 
expenses. Graded school and city school districts have, 
with minor exceptions, always supplemented state funds 
by local taxes, but rural districts were slow to do so. 
In fact, up to 1908, rural districts rarely levied a school 
tax. Local school taxes were first required of graded 
school and city school districts in 1888, but such tax 
was not made mandatory upon the counties until 1908. 
Even then a nominal levy met the requirements of 
the law, and the maximum that might be levied could 



7 



142 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

not exceed 20 cents on each $100 value of assessed prop- 
erty. In 1 91 8 the maximum was raised to 30 cents, and 
in 1920 to 50 cents. 

The mandatory local school tax legislation of 1920 
stands as a landmark in the educational history of the 
state and differs from all previous similar legislation. 
It fixed a minimum local school tax — 25 cents on each 
$100 value of assessed property — that all county boards 
of education must levy. Kentucky has therefore really 
had mandatory local school taxation only since 1920. 

The late acceptance of mandatory local school taxation 
is an important element in explaining the slow develop- 
ment of pubhc education in Kentucky, and the present 
low educational ranking of the state. It is, however, a 
principle that needs to be appHed more and more if 
Kentucky is to have the kind of pubhc schools its children 
deserve. For the state should give special and additional 
financial assistance only to those who first help them- 
selves.^ 



iThere is one item of local school support that calls for special mention. 
The counties themselves have a permanent school fund, although this is 
held as a part of the permanent state school fund, This permanent 
county school fund amounts to $381,986.08, and is in the form of an 
irredeemable state debt on which the state guarantees 6 per cent, interest 
payable semi-annually. The income therefrom is distributed directly 
to the counties in proportion to their share of the principal. Their 
respective shares range from $13.55 to $15,931.66, and their annual in- 
comes therefrom vary accordingly. This permanent county school fund 
grew out of state apportionments which the counties were unable to use 
for one reason or another and turned back to the state to be held to the cred- 
it and for the benefit of the respective counties. The law of 1890 quite 



SCHOOL FINANCES 143 

STATE VERSUS LOCAL SCHOOL SUPPORT 

The introduction of the principle of mandatory local 
school taxation has changed, especially within recent 
years, the relation between the amount of state school 
funds and the amount of local school funds available an- 
nually. The per cent, derived from state and the per 
cent, derived from local sources since 1900 have been as 
follows: 
In 1900, from state sources, 62 per cent.; from local 

sources, 38 per cent. 
In 1910, from state sources, 53 per cent.; from local 

sources, 47 per cent. 
In 1917-18, from state sources, 44 per cent.; from local 

sources, 56 per cent. 
In 192C-21, from state sources, 38 per cent.; from local 

sources, 62 per cent. 

The increase in school funds derived from local sources 
is a wholesome development, but the same cannot be said 
with confidence of the failure of state school funds to keep 
pace with this local increase. What the proportion should 
be between the two is admittedly difficult to determine. 
Experience elsewhere throws little Hght on the question. 
In most southern states a relatively large proportionof the 
total support of the pubHc schools comes from state tax- 
ation. In the North practice is not so uniform. In cer- 



properly stopped the growth of this fund, and justice would dictate that, 
if the constitution permitted, it should be covered into the permanent 
state school fund. 



144 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

tain states, for example, Colorado, Iowa, Illinois, and Mas- 
sachusetts, almost the entire burden of public school 
support is thrown on the local school units; in others, 
such as Maine and New Jersey, the state bears as much 
as 40 per cent, of all current school costs. 

As a matter of principle, the state must be regarded as 
responsible for maintaining, throughout the common- 
wealth, a system of pubHc schools of a satisfactory 
standard. In a state where both population and 
wealth are evenly distributed, and the wealth is every- 
where ample to support good schools, there is Httle need 
of a large state school fund. In a state where there are 
striking differences in the distribution of population 
and wealth, the necessity of equahzing educational op- 
portunities calls for a large state school fund. As we 
have pointed out, Kentucky is marked by extreme vari- 
ations in both population and wealth. Therefore, if pub- 
lic schools of a satisfactory standard are to be open to 
all the children of the commonwealth, Kentucky must 
have a relatively large state school fund. 

For these reasons it is highly unfortunate that the 
state's share of public school revenues has not kept pace 
with the increased local school support. Not only 
should the proportion the state contributes to schools 
be greatly increased, but, as we shall point out later, the 
amount that it contributes should also be greatly in- 
creased. But this increased state support cannot and 
should not relieve local school units of the duty of also 
increasing their support. Indeed, further local support 



SCHOOL FINANCES 145 

must be both encouraged and required if the public 
schools of Kentucky are to develop satisfactorily. 

COLLECTION AND PAYMENT OF SCHOOL FUND 

In general, state school taxes and local school taxes 
are assessed and collected as other taxes. One point * 
in this connection deserves attention. The assessed 
valuation of railroads and corporations is fixed by the 
state tax commission. To make up the state assessment 
roll for railroads and corporations presents no unusual 
difficulties, but it is difficult to make it up for the 
county, graded district, and city school tax. The present 
process is so complicated and responsibihty is so divided 
that there is danger that much railroad and corporation 
property may escape local taxation. The responsibility 
for fixing the value of railroad and corporation property 
to be taxed in county school district, graded school dis- 
trict, and city school district should be placed squarely 
on the state tax commission and on the respective local 
tax commissioners, and railroad and corporation taxes 
should be collected as other taxes are collected. The 
county superintendent would thus be relieved of duties 
which for obvious reasons hp is ill-suited to perform. 

Finally, the schools are run to a large extent on credit. 
County school terms are often entirely over, and graded 
and city school terms half over, before funds in any con- 
siderable amount, either state or local, are available, 
since state and local taxes are for the most part not re- 
turned before December. The state auditor is re- 



146 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

quired to issue interest-paying warrants when money is 
not available for the September, October, November, 
December, and February state apportionments. Even 
at the end of the school year outstanding unpaid school 
warrants frequently exceed $500,000. School boards 
have recently had difficulty and at times have found it 
impossible to discount these state school warrants. 
Lacking adequate local funds, and unable or unwilling 
to borrow on state school warrants, school boards leave 
their current bills unpaid, and teachers are frequently 
without their salaries for months at a time, to the dis- 
credit of the board and the humiliation and inconveni- 
ence of the teachers. 

Repeated efforts have been made to correct this unfor- 
tunate condition, but further action is needed. County 
boards of education should be directed to borrow money 
against current revenues due, for the payment of teach- 
ers' salaries. The state treasurer should also be au- 
thorized to borrow money against state school warrants 
and turn the borrowed funds over to local school officials, 
the interest being charged against the common school 
fund. The real corrective would, of course, be to set 
back to June 30th the final date for collecting taxes for 
the ensuing school year. This would guarantee funds 
in hand before the new school year opened, save thou- 
sands of dollars of interest, and place boards of education 
on a sound business basis. 



PART II 

NEEDED IMPROVEMENTS 

CHAPTERS X-XIII 



X. BETTER STATE ORGANIZATION AND AD- 
MINISTRATION 

FROM the foregoing discussion it must be appar- 
ent that the improvement of the schools of 
Kentucky requires better organization and ad- 
ministration, better trained teachers, larger schools, a 
longer school term, and more liberal financial support. 

NEW STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 

The vote of the people against Constitutional Amend- 
ment No. I makes impossible at present a complete 
reorganization of the state department of education. 
Nevertheless, the present ex-officio state board of educa- 
tion should be abolished, and, so far as possible, a 
properly constituted board put in its place. To the 
new board should be given the powers now exercised by 
the present state board of education, for example, the 
enforcing of the school laws and prescribing rules and 
regulations for the management of the schools. The 
power of enforcement should, however, be direct. From 
time out of mind the state board of education and the 
state superintendent have had the right of complaint 
to the county court, the county attorney, and to the 
commonwealth attorney, but it has been next to im- 

149 



I50 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

possible to get these ojficials to act. Punishment for 
criminal offenses must, of course, be left to the proper 
courts, but the state board of education, through its 
executive officer, should be authorized to deal directly 
with school officers who fail to perform their duties or 
violate the school laws; that is, it should have power to 
remove any common school officer, elected or appointed, 
and revoke certificates of all kinds, for cause, after due 
notice of the charges and after opportunity for public 
hearing. 

Boards possessing powers that properly belong to a 
state board of education, such as the state board of 
examiners, the vocational education board, and the state 
textbook commission, should be abolished, their powers 
and duties being transferred to the newly constituted 
state board. The location of these varied powers and 
duties in a single board will centraKze responsibility, 
guarantee unity of administration, and eliminate dupH- 
cation and waste. 

In the establishment of a properly constituted board, a 
number of considerations must be kept in mind. Too 
frequent change in membership endangers the contin- 
uance of well-devised plans and needlessly exposes the 
schools to the influences of poHtical and other upheavals. 
Again, a board that is too large becomes unwieldy and 
gets in its own way; a board that is too small ceases to be 
representative. The makeup of the board is also im- 
portant. When a state board of education has the 
power to select the state superintendent, he. should 



BETTER STATE ORGANIZATION 151 

not be included in its membership. But the superin- 
tendent of public instruction in Kentucky is a consti- 
tutional officer and should for this reason be included. 
He should, however, be the only ex-officio member, for the 
arguments given above against state officials elected to 
specific state offices being members of the state board of 
education are unanswerable. 

Whether professional educators should be included de- 
pends on the \iew held of the purpose and function of 
such a board. If the board is regarded as an agency 
meant to formulate policies and plans, and to participate 
actively in their execution and in the administration of 
the schools, professional educators should obviously 
be included. But in our judgment, such is not the proper 
function of a state board of education. To our mind 
the state board should not primarily originate educa- 
tional poHcies, nor should the board itself execute them ; 
least of all should it concern itself with the details of 
management. The board should represent the people 
in an advisory and legislative capacity and should depend 
for professional guidance and for the execution of its 
policies on its executive officer, the state superintendent. 
On this view, amply vindicated by the experience of 
other states, the board should be composed of broad- 
minded and highminded laymen. What is wanted and 
needed is the lay point \dew, to review the policies and 
plans submitted for approval by its executive officer and 
to judge of his execution of them. If expert advice 
other than that offered by the state superintendent is 



152 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

desired, this can be easily procured from the educators 
of the state, who always stand ready to serve the cause 
of pubKc education. Moreover, when a state board of 
education possesses the powers needed to direct and su- 
pervise a public school system, there are few, if any, 
educators in the state who are not subject, directly or 
indirectly, to its authority; and this is another reason for 
excluding schoolmen from membership. 

Experience in other states suggests that a board of 
nine members, including the state superintendent as is 
necessary under present limitations, composed of both 
men and women, would probably prove most satisfactory 
for Kentucky. The constitution limits the terms of 
such members to four years. With a board of eight lay 
members, serving for four years, it would be well to 
arrange their terms at the outset so that there wouljd 
be two appointments in the first year thereafter, two in 
the second, two in the third, and two in the fourth year. 
Members should, of course, be eligible for reappointment. 

Experience also favors strongly appointment by the 
governor as the best method of obtaining a non-poKtical 
board animated by a fine spirit of pubHc service. In 27 
states out of the 33 having other than strictly ex-officio 
boards, the governor appoints the members. In Michi- 
gan, only, are the members elected by the people. In 
New York and Rhode Island the legislature chooses. 
In Virginia the senate and state board of education ap- 
point. In Wyoming the state superintendent appoints, 
with the approval of the governor. In Wisconsin the 





Playground and Athletic Field 



BETTER STATE ORGANIZATION 153 

governor appoints five and educational boards and in- 
stitutions appoint three. 

In an increasing number of states, both city school 
boards and county school boards are elected by the 
people. A method sound in principle and successful in 
small compact units, hke a city or county, is not neces- 
sarily appUcable to a large area Hke a state. The fatal 
weakness in the election of state board members is this: 
The type of men and women most Hkely to be valuable 
can rarely be induced to go through the processes in- 
volved in popular election. Moreover, the choice of 
state board members at a general election is almost cer- 
tain to plunge the board deeply into party poHtics. The 
same is true if the appointment is turned over to the state 
legislature, unless the term is very long, as in New .York, 
where it is twelve years. 

ADEQUATE PROFESSIONAL STAFF 

The creation of a state board of education, composed 
of the state superintendent and eight lay members, 
invested with adequate and appropriate powers, will 
improve the pubKc school system, but satisfactory 
results will not be obtained unless the state superintend- 
ent possesses an appropriate clerical, stenographic, and 
professional staff to assist him in enforcing the school 
laws, in executing the policies of the state board of edu- 
cation, and bringing to interested citizens, local school 
officers, principals, and teachers the assistance that is 
constantly being asked for. 



154 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

To do well the work that lies immediately before it, 
the state department of education should be organized 
somewhat as follows : 

1. Ofi&ce of state superintendent, having, in addition 
to the superintendent and his personal secretary, an 
assistant superintendent in charge of the entire ofiice and 
authorized to act in the absence of the superintendent. 

2. Division of school records, school reports, and 
publications, in charge of a director. 

3. Division of business methods and school accounts, 
in charge of a director. 

4. Division of schoolhouse plans, in charge of a 
director (a school architect), one assistant, and two 
draftsmen. 

5. Division of teachers' certificates, in charge of a 
director, two assistants, and temporary question makers 
and readers of examination papers. 

6. Division of teacher training, in charge of a di- 
rector. 

7. Division of supervision, with at least six super- 
visors, in charge of: 

a. White elementary schools (3) 

b. Colored elementary schools (i) 

c. High schools (2) 

8. Division of agricultural and industrial education, 
in charge of a director and two assistants. 

9. Division of health and physical education, in 
charge of a director. 

The superintendent and the head of each division 



BETTER STATE ORGANIZATION 155 

must, of course, be provided with the necessary stenog- 
raphers and clerks. 

The entire department, including salaries, traveling 
expenses, postage, printing, etc., would cost approxi- 
mately $165,000 annually, exclusive of the fees collected 
from teachers taking examinations and receiving certifi- 
cates. This exceeds the present state total expendi- 
tures, exclusive of $35,765 from the federal government 
and the General Education Board, by $100,000. But 
$165,000 is a small general overhead expense — only 4 
per cent, of the state school funds, to say nothing of 
local funds. Nothing can be more unwise than a nig- 
gardly attitude toward expenditures incurred for super- 
visory work. Education in Kentucky cannot advance 
until larger sums are expended for general overhead ; but 
care must be taken that the agents selected have the 
proper training, personaHty, ideals, and authority. 

SUMMARY 

If Kentucky should obtain a non-partisan board of 
education, composed of men and women who are pro- 
foundly interested in popular education and keenly aware 
of existing defects ; if the state superintendent were aided 
by an adequate force of active, well-trained assistants, 
working uninterruptedly to enlighten the people and to 
assist local officials — if these simple steps should be now 
taken, the educational millennium w^ould not at once 
dawn, but every year would see the state creep a notch 
higher in the scale of relative educational efficiency. 



XI. BETTER LOCAL ORGANIZATION AND 
ADMINISTRATION 

COUNTY ORGANIZATION 

THE legislation of 1920 is so sound that no con- 
siderable change need be made in county school 
organization. Among the minor changes called 
for is the repeal of that part of the county school bond 
law of 1Q12 which creates a separate school building com- 
mission. In the interest of unified responsibihty and 
coherent poHcy the powers and duties of this commission 
should be transferred to the county board of education. 

The law of 1920 wisely made the superintendent the 
executive officer and secretary of the county board of 
education, with special authority over the teaching body, 
including their appointment and assignment. The law 
erred, however, in making the superintendent also the 
treasurer. One and the same person should not be both 
the custodian of pubUc funds and the active agent in their 
disbursement. The county treasurer should be the trea- 
surer of the county board. He should, of course, be 
required to keep his school accounts in such form and to 
make such reports as may be required by the county and 
the state board of education. 
Apart from modifications needed to unify the several 

is6 



BETTER LOCAL ORGANIZATION 157 

laws passed at different times, the above suggested 
changes will give Kentucky an excellent county school 
law. There are but two important exceptions to this: 
Sooner or later all graded school districts should be 
returned to the county system, and the county school 
tax should be levied Uke other county taxes on all the 
property of the county. But good schools cannot be 
made by mere laws. The counties must in the first 
place obtain better trained superintendents, to secure 
whom higher salaries must be paid. Many of the new 
county boards are indeed already paying in excess of the 
present minimum, $1,200 per year, but in order to attract 
reasonably well-trained superintendents to all counties, 
the minimum should be increased to not less than $2,400, 
provided that the county superintendent meets the 
highest standard of qualification. 

The moment the salary is raised the county is in posi- 
tion to demand talent and training of a high order. 
Hence, no superintendent should hereafter be employed 
who has not had five years of experience as teacher, 
supervisor, or administrator, who has not completed 
the equivalent of a standard college course, and who has 
not had in addition, when due credit is given for ex- 
perience and outside reading, at least one year of special 
study in county administration and supervision. Few 
county superintendents now in service meet these very 
reasonable requirements. For the present, therefore, 
an elastic arrangement should be made, permitting the 
temporary employment of less highly trained officers; 



158 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

but these officers should not receive the larger compen- 
sation meant as an inducement and remuneration to 
more highly trained superintendents. 

Conditions need also to be made more favorable to 
effective work. More suitable and better equipped 
offices must be provided, and the county superintendent 
should have clerical and professional aid. In each office 
there should be not less than one clerical and stenographic 
assistant. There should also be well-trained supervisors, 
at least one in each county, and sooner or later an addi- 
tional one for approximately every fifty teachers in 
excess of seventy-five. But until the state obtains better 
trained superintendents, it would be a waste of money 
to bring back rural supervision. In any event, nothing 
is to be gained through the employment of half-trained 
persons for supervisory work. Standard qualifications 
should be prescribed; calling for a minimum salary of 
at least $i,8oo, and no supervisor should be employed 
who does not possess standard quahfications. The re- 
introduction of rural supervision in Kentucky will be 
slow, if for no other reason than that quahfied super- 
visors must first be trained. 

Most of the counties are already provided with at- 
tendance officers. The few that are without them should 
take immediate action to secure them. These officers, 
supported by a properly drawn compulsory attendance 
law, will improve rural school attendance. But county 
children will not attend school regularly until pubHc 
sentiment more fully appreciates and more earnestly 



BETTER LOCAL ORGANIZATION 159 

supports public education. The introduction of school 
physicians and nurses, whether through the agency of 
the county board of education or county board of health, 
would undoubtedly operate to the same end. Measles, 
mumps, and whooping cough now close the rural schools 
for weeks and months at a time — a thing that does not 
happen where school doctors and school nurses are 
provided. 

Finally, county boards of education must furnish 
superintendents, supervisors, and attendance officers, 
school doctors and school nurses, with transportation at 
the expense of the county, and pay all expenses incurred 
in the performance of professional duties. So long as 
school officials are required directly or indirectly to pay 
the whole or a part of such expense, regular and efficient 
service cannot be expected. 

Efficient administration, efficient supervision, and 
efficient health service naturally suggest a lengthened 
school term. A good elementary education cannot be 
given in a school year of six months. Lengthening the 
school term is also the first step toward getting well- 
trained teachers, for well-trained teachers will not take 
charge of rural schools unless they are given a full year's 
work, and with it, of course, a full year's pay. Rural 
school salaries indeed should be higher than the salaries 
of city teachers. Otherwise, well-trained teachers will 
not endure the isolation, the inconvenience, and the hard- 
ships of rural hfe. In a word, the improvement of rural 
education involves not only more efficient administration, 



i6o PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

but a school term of nine or ten months, and a salary 
schedule which will make rural teaching a livelihood and 
a profession. Inasmuch as 74 per cent, of the people of 
Kentucky Hve in the country, it is obvious that the state 
will continue to be backward until the above-mentioned 
steps are taken in behalf of rural education. 

Educational progress in certain sections will long be 
handicapped by a large number of one-teacher schools — 
unavoidable owing to the lack of good roads and the 
mountainous character of the country. Elsewhere one- 
teacher schools can be readily eliminated in favor of 
union or consoKdated schools. In consolidated schools 
pupils can be better classified and graded; teaching can 
be more effectively distributed and supervised. At- 
tendance is more regular because they offer larger 
educational opportunities furnished by playgrounds, 
gymnasium, laboratories, courses in home-making and 
farming, demonstration fields, assembly hall, etc. The 
consolidated school also quickly becomes a community 
center, adding interest and variety to adult as well as 
to child Hfe. 

Few counties are without consolidated schools, and in 
one or two, most one-teacher schools have already dis- 
appeared. However, in too many cases consolidations 
have been effected without a comprehensive study of the 
entire county situation. It happens, therefore, that 
consolidated schools are sometimes unfavorably located 
and that certain one-room schools are left stranded in the 
open country. As consolidation aims to organize county 





Negro Rural Schoolhouses 



BETTER LOCAL ORGANIZATION i6i 

school resources economically and efifectively, it is obvi- 
ous that it must not proceed on a mere neighborhood 
basis. 

In most instances the responsibility for the new con- 
soHdated building has been thrown in whole or in part on 
the subdistricts consolidated, generally the richest and 
the less densely populated. For example, the first con- 
sohdated district in a certain county contained approxi- 
mately one-ninth of all the wealth, but only about one- 
seventeenth of all the children. Experience in other 
states has proved that rich districts, when permitted or 
compelled to pay by local tax for their consoHdated 
school buildings, sternly resist a county tax levied to 
provide consolidated buildings for the remaining less 
well-to-do districts. "We paid for our consolidated 
building," they say, "let the other districts pay for 
theirs." Inasmuch as the poor districts are unable to 
do this alone, thoroughgoing consoKdation is halted. 

Consolidated districts may well be permitted to levy an 
additional local tax to be used for transportation, a 
longer school term, better trained teachers, etc., but the 
need of such local tax will decrease as the general level 
of the county schools is raised. To illustrate: If a 
county provides a school term of only seven months for 
all districts, a consoHdated district that wants a nine 
months' term must provide two additional months by 
local taxation; if later the county provides for an eight 
months' term in all schools, the consolidated districts 
need to provide only one additional month in order to 



i62 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

have a nine months' school. Hence the local district 
tax falls as the general county tax rises. 

If serious obstacles to complete consolidation are to be 
avoided, all consoHdated schoolhouses, Kke ordinary 
schoolhouses now, should be erected and paid for by the 
county board of education, and the funds therefor raised 
either by a county bond issue or by current county school 
tax levies. 

To provide for the needed improvements in adminis- 
tration and supervision, for a standard school term of 
nine or ten months, for well-trained teachers in all 
schools, and to put consolidation on a proper basis will 
call for increased county school expenditures. All 
these improvements cannot and should not be under- 
taken at once; but a program should be deliberately 
adopted and a beginning should be made immediately. 
The counties may confidently look to the state for still 
more hberal assistance, but the chief burden for improv- 
ed rural schools must be borne by the counties them- 
selves. Therefore, the present minimum compulsory 
county school tax of 25 cents should be raised to not 
less than 35 cents for teachers alone, and the maximum 
that may be levied (now 50 cents) should be raised to 
a dollar. Good rural schools cost more than good town 
and city schools, and country dwellers must be willing 
to pay at least as high taxes as city folk. 

A comprehensive plan, such as is here proposed, re- 
quiring many years for complete realization, is not Hkely 
to be adopted, and is still less likely to be pursued, unless 



BETTER LOCAL ORGANIZATION 163 

the state department, freed from political control and 
respected by all persons, regardless of politics, is in posi- 
tion to frame and to follow up such far-reaching edu- 
cational plans. 

SINGLE CODE AND STANDARDS FOR CITY SCHOOLS 

The organization and administration of city schools 
already follow closely the best practice of the country. 
The adoption of a single code for all cities would, how- 
ever, simplify school laws, simpHfy administration, and 
give opportunity to make some needed changes. But 
should there be opposition to a single code, the 
city codes should be amended as there is need. For 
example, boards of education in first class cities should 
be made independent financially of city councils, and 
in second class cities the school tax which the 
board of education may levy or cause to be levied should 
be raised to probably not less than $1 for all purposes 
on each $100 of assessed value of property. 

A certain amount of general legislation affecting all 
cities is in any event necessary. For example, provision 
should be made for the state certification of city superin- 
tendents, city supervisors, and all city teachers — cities 
retaining the right to require higher quaHfications than 
those imposed by the state ; and particularly for setting up 
standards which all city schools must meet if they are to 
continue to operate independently of the county system. 
Cities faihng to meet these standards ought to be re- 
turned to the county system, for the same reasons as 



i64 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

have been given above for the return of graded school 
districts. 

The standards to be met by all cities operating indepen- 
dently of the county should be approximately as follows : 

1. Each city should possess taxable property of not 
less than $ i , 2 50 ,000 . 

2. Each city school district should provide ample 
school grounds, including playgrounds, athletic fields, 
and sanitary and hygienic schoolhouses, constructed 
according to plans approved by and in accordance with 
the rules and regulations of the state board of education. 

3. Each city school district should maintain satis- 
factory elementary schools and at least one first class 
high school, with a school term of not less than 180 
school days or 9 months. 

4. Each city school district should in the future 
employ a superintendent who has had not less than five 
years' experience as teacher, supervisor, or adminis- 
trator, who has completed the equivalent of a standard 
college course, and who has had in addition, when due 
credit is given for experience and outside reading, not 
less than one year of special study in city administration 
and supervision. For the smaller cities it will doubtless 
be necessary for a time to permit lower qualifications, 
but certainly these higher quahfications should at once 
be made effective for first, second, and third class cities. 

5. Each city school district should henceforth em- 
ploy only such new elementary teachers as have com- 
pleted the equivalent of a four-year high school course, 



BETTER LOCAL ORGANIZATION 165 

and, in addition, not less than a two-year normal school 
course. 

6. Each city school district should henceforth em- 
ploy only such new high school teachers as have com- 
pleted the equivalent of a standard four-year college 
course, including professional work in high school in- 
struction. 

7. Each city school district should henceforth employ 
at least one whole- or part-time attendance officer. 

While these standards are not high, they mark a 
distinct and feasible advance beyond present conditions. 

The foregoing recommendations, if carried into effect, 
would leave Httle to be desired so far as the legal status of 
city school districts is concerned; but they leave un- 
touched the fundamental question: Shall city school 
districts be exempt from the county school tax, or shall 
they pay the county school tax, .receiving in return 
from it only their equitable proportion? We do not 
press the point now because there are so many other 
imperative inprovements claiming immediate attention, 
and it would be unfortunate to compHcate the situation 
further by forcing this issue. 

RETURN OF GRADED SCHOOL DISTRICTS TO COUNTY 

Probably the most far-reaching recommendation af- 
fecting local school organization and administration is 
the return, so far as this is possible and advisable, of 
graded common school districts to the county. The 
conditions calling for this recommendation were reviewed 



i66 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

above, and the main reasons only need to be restated 
here. 

The improvement of the rural schools is fundamental 
to the welfare of the state. The existence of graded 
school districts in large numbers prevents the develop- 
ment of a sound county system, for the more progressive 
and prosperous communities are, through the organiza- 
tion of graded school districts, constantly drawn off, 
leaving to the county system only the less progressive or 
less wealthy sections. 

The return of the graded school districts to the county 
will not only benefit the county, but will also be to the 
advantage of the districts themselves. Graded school 
districts acting alone can rarely, at a reasonable rate of 
taxation, provide for their children up-to-date school 
plants, including adequate playgrounds, athletic fields, 
gymnasiums, laboratories, and assembly halls; good 
elementary schools and high schools with extended 
programs, including physical education, science, courses 
in home-making, farming, etc.; the proper administra- 
tion and supervision; and attendance officers, school 
doctors, and school nurses. An up-to-date plant and the 
teachers to carry a modern school program can, as a rule, 
care for more children than a single graded school district 
contains; a well-trained county superintendent with a 
strong professional staff can administer and supervise 
the schools of the county and of the graded school dis- 
tricts as well; the same attendance officers, school doctors, 
and school nurses will also serve for all. Furthermore, 



BETTER LOCAL ORGANIZATION 167 

the return of graded school districts to the county pre- 
pares the way for a rational consoHdation of many 
schools, since these graded school districts are as a rule 
natural consoHdation centers. Thus by combining re- 
sources, both the county and the graded school districts 
can enjoy educational advantages which neither can 
provide acting alone. 

On the other hand, long-standing injustices to the 
county will be wiped out — such as, for example, gerry- 
mandering graded district boundaries to include every 
possible bit of corporate property in order to secure for 
the graded district the sole benefits of concentrated 
wealth, and throwing upon the county the responsibility 
of educating the colored children of villages and towns. 

Other advantages will follow the creation of a genuine, 
inclusive county unit. It will simplify state supervision, 
reduce the amount of personal interest in the manage- 
ment of the schools, do away with much petty graft, 
prevent irregularities in the handhng of public funds, 
and facilitate the enforcement of school laws, now openly 
violated in certain sections by graded school districts. 

When graded school districts so far as possible and 
ad\dsable are returned to the county, all property be- 
longing to them will pass to the respective county boards 
of education, and the county boards, after proper audit, 
will assume all outstanding debts and become respons- 
ible for the financial support and general management 
of the schools. This, however, does not preclude sections 
from doing more for their own schools than county 



i68 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

boards may be able to do for all. They may well be 
permitted, rnider proper restrictions, to levy additional 
taxes, beyond the state and county tax, and to use the 
funds in ways mutually agreed upon between the local 
trustees and the county board of education for the sole 
benefit of their respective schools. 

A change so far reaching in its effects cannot and 
should not be made too hurriedly. At present we 
merely recommend that no new graded school districts 
be organized or enlarged, that all graded school districts 
be required to levy a graded school district tax which 
shall be not less than the minimum school tax required of 
all counties, and that graded school districts be returned 
to the county only when this would mean a better 
school. 



XII. BETTER TRAINED TEACHERS 

BETTER leadership is Kentucky's first educational 
need. But efficient superintendents, supervisors, 
and principals must have better trained teachers 
to work with. Obviously, do what it will, Kentucky 
will never have satisfactory schools until its teachers are 
better trained. The steps to be taken to secure better 
trained teachers are clear. A sound certification system 
must be established, the salaries paid must be adequate, 
and larger teacher training facilities must be obtained. 

CERTIFICATION SYSTEM AND SALARY SCHEDULE 

Different kinds of school work call for different kinds 
of preparation. Elementary school teaching calls for one 
kind of training, high school teaching for another kind. 
A sound certification system will, therefore, provide as 
many kinds of certificates as there are kinds of school 
work calKng for specific and prolonged preparation. Each 
given kind of certificate will be valid only in its own field. 
For example, elementary certificates should be valid 
only in elementary schools, high school certificates only 
in high schools. The several kinds of certificates to be 
provided would include city superintendents' certificates, 
county superintendents' certificates, supervisors' certi- 

169 



lyo PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

ficates, high school principals' certificates, rural high and 
elementary school principals' certificates, elementary- 
school principals' certificates, high school teachers' 
certificates (including specialized high school certificates, 
such as those for home economics, and agriculture), and 
elementary school teachers' certificates (including pri- 
mary elementary, intermediate elementary, and gram- 
mar grade elementary). 

Theoretically, there should be only one grade of certi- 
ficate for each kind issued, that is, one grade of city super- 
intendent's certificate, one grade of high school teacher's 
certificate, one grade of elementary school teacher's certi- 
ficate, etc. This single certificate should be a first grade, 
or standard certificate of its kind, and should be issued 
only on the basis of the preparation which experience has 
shown to be necessary to the successful performance of 
the particular kind of school work for which the particular 
certificate is issued. For example, it is generally accepted 
that a high school teacher should be a college graduate 
and have had as a part of his college course professional 
work especially related to high school training. Similarly 
it is generally accepted that an elementary teacher must 
at least have completed a standard high school course 
and have had in addition not less than a two-year course 
especially related to elementary school teaching. A 
certification system pitched on this level would bar all 
persons from the schools who have not had a minimum 
standard training for the specific kind of school work 
which they desire to undertake. Ideally, this is what 



BETTER TRAINED TEACHERS 171 

should be done; it would ensure a body of professionally 
trained teachers. But this high and single standard 
for each kind of certificate is not now practicable for 
Kentucky. 

As previously pointed out, only 23 per cent, of all 
high school teachers in service could meet the generally 
accepted standard for high school teachers' certificates, 
and only 10 per cent, of all elementary teachers could 
meet the generally accepted standard for elementary 
school teachers' certificates. The schools would be closed 
if any such standard were proclaimed and enforced; 
clearly, the state, while aiming at this goal, must be con- 
tent to approach it gradually. 

That so large a percentage of teachers in service do not 
now meet acceptable standards of preparation does not 
lessen the necessity of providing even now some sort of 
standard certificate for each kind issued; for example, a 
standard or first grade city superintendent's certificate, 
a standard or first grade county superintendent's certifi- 
cate, a standard or first grade high school teacher's cer- 
tificate, a standard or first grade elementary school 
teacher's certificate. If only a few teachers in service 
can meet these standard requirements, there ought to be 
a certificate which recognizes and rewards their superior 
preparation. Moreover, the provision of a certificate of 
standard grade for each kind of certificate issued sets 
before the teaching body an ideal of what constitutes 
acceptable preparation for given kinds of school work. 

Making the highest grade certificate of each kind a 



172 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

standard certificate does not prevent the issuance of as 
many lower grade certificates of the same kind as are for 
the time being required in order to procure teachers for 
the schools. For example, since half the high school 
teachers in service have not had the equivalent of two 
years of standard college work, it will probably be neces- 
sary for the present to issue at least three different grades 
of high school teachers' certificates: a first grade, calhng 
for college graduation, including special professional pre- 
paration; a second grade, calhng for at least three years of 
standard college work, including special professional 
preparation; and a third grade, calling for not less than 
two years of standard college work, including special 
professional preparation. Similarly in the elementary 
field. Since 23 per cent, of all elementary teachers in 
service have themselves never gone beyond the elemen- 
tary school, it will probably be necessary for a time to 
issue.seVen different grades of elementary school teachers' 
certificates. The requirements for these different ele- 
mentary school teachers' certificates will range from 
those of a first grade — completion of a standard high 
school course and two years in a standard normal school 
— to those of a seventh grade certificate, which probably 
cannot call for more than completion of the eighth grade, 
with an additional six weeks of professional training. 

Similar concessions must be made for the present in 
other kinds of certificates. To meet existing conditions, 
it will probably be necessary to issue three grades of city 
superintendents' certificates, and the same number of 



BETTER TRAINED TEACHERS 173 

county superintendents' certificates, high school j)rinci- 
pals' certificates, and elementary school principals' cer- 
tificates. But no matter how many grades of certificates 
of each kind are issued, each lower grade should be ranked 
with reference to the standard certificate of the given kind. 
In a sound certification scheme, all first grade or stan- 
dard certificates are issued on credentials, that is, on the 
record of school work completed. While all first grade 
or standard certificates are good only for limited terms, 
the conditions of renewal are such as to make them prac- 
tically life certificates. Lower grade or non-standard 
certificates are also issued, so far as practicable, on cre- 
dentials, but they may also be obtained on examination, 
provided the appKcant has had the required amount of 
school training w^hen due credit is given for experience. 
In all cases these non-standard certificates when first 
issued are good only for short terms, and are renewable 
only on evidence of additional training in a school of 
recognized standard. These hmitations achieve two 
purposes: First, young and poorly trained teachers are 
required to make further preparation at the beginning of 
their teaching careers when additional training counts 
most, and they are required to attend during the regular 
term or during the summer term standard teacher-train- 
ing schools, in order to improve their technical training. 
Second, these limitations relieve even poorly prepared 
teachers of the grind of taking examination after examina- 
tion. A teacher is never examined but once. When a 
certificate is once issued on examination, however low 



174 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

the grade, it is thereafter renewed only on evidence of the 
completion of additional school work. The repeated 
renewal of a given grade of certificate on these terms in- 
evitably leads to the next higher certificate of the same 
kind, which, in turn, if repeatedly renewed leads to a still 
higher certificate, and so on. Thus, instead of threshing 
over the same old straw in examination after examination, 
teachers are stimulated to prepare themselves more and 
more thoroughly, and on so doing they earn a higher wage. 

When, so far as possible, all certificates are both issued 
and renewed on credentials, the certification of teachers is 
reduced primarily to grading or ranking teacher-training 
schools, and to auditing credentials. For all teacher- 
training institutions within the state, both public and 
private, must be ranked and their work brought 
up to an acceptable standard, if credentials issued by 
them are to be accepted. When such •credentials 
are presented they must be audited to determine the 
amount and character of the credit to be allowed and 
the kind and grade of certificate to be granted thereon. 

It also becomes incumbent on the certificating author- 
ities to prescribe the requirements for each kind and 
grade of certificate. Such prescriptions should not be so 
definite or so rigid as to cramp the schools engaged in the 
preparation of teachers, but they should be definite 
enough to give point to all teacher-training work and to 
serve as a guide to teachers preparing for given certifi- 
cates. 

Certification having been placed on the proposed 



BETTER TRAINED TEACHERS 175 

basis, the authority to issue certificates should be central- 
ized. Otherwise there is confusion in standards and re- 
quirements, confusion among teacher-training schools 
about the lines of teacher-training to attempt, and con- 
fusion among teachers as to what they should do in order 
to secure a certificate of a given kind and grade. Ken- 
tucky has already realized the need of centralization, for 
the number of certificating authorities has recently been 
reduced by abolishing the 120 county boards of examiners. 
But the present law stops short of the desired end, since 
the certification of all city teachers, as well as the certifi- 
cating powers now exercised by both state and private 
institutions, should be transferred to the state. There 
remains a further step to complete the readjustment. 
The state board of examiners should be abolished, and 
the certification of all teachers should be vested in the 
state board of education. The state board of education 
should also be empowered, subject to the law, to fix 
standards, determine the kinds and grades of certificates 
to be issued, and to prescribe rules and regulations con- 
trolling their issuance. In the office of the state superin- 
tendent there should be established a division of teachers' 
certificates, and over this there should be a director, pro- 
vided with an adequate number of clerks and examination 
readers. These measures are not new; they have been 
adopted with excellent results by other states, notably 
by Maryland and North Carolina. 

However sound and efiiciently administered a certifica- 
tion system may be, it will do Httle to stimulate teachers 



176 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

to prepare themselves thoroughly unless it is linked up 
with an adequate and appropriate state minimum salary 
schedule. The highest wage, obviously, must go to the 
best trained. Moreover, the salaries of all teachers 
holding standard or first grade certificates, and in a few 
instances the salaries of those holding second and third 
grade certificates, should be on an annual and not on a 
monthly basis. A given monthly wage may in itself be 
attractive, but in a state where the school term is so 
irregular, the total amount received on the basis of a 
monthly wage may fall far short of making an attractive 
annual salary. While boards of education employing 
teachers holding standard certificates should not be per- 
mitted to pay them less, they should be free to pay such 
teachers more than the state minimum. This permits 
well-prepared and successful teachers to profit by their 
efforts and worth. 

On the other hand, the wages of all teachers holding 
lower than standard certificates, with a few exceptions, 
should for the time being be stated in terms of a monthly 
wage. School authorities should be forbidden to pay 
such teachers a higher monthly wage than that specified 
in the state schedule. If this is not done, the way is open 
to all kinds of favoritism, and the whole effort to stimu- 
late preparation by giving the best wage to the best 
trained breaks down. No teacher, of course, is limited 
forever to the specified minimum wage, but the higher 
salary should depend on superior training recognized 
by the higher grade of certificate. 




^B^^^^H^Sv ^^^■IH ^B ^^^B 


^ISSi 1 H ■« a^B 


^^^^^!^^ 



Negro City Schoolhouses of Better Tj^pe 



BETTER TRAINED TEACHERS 177 

In the makeup of a state minimum teachers' salary 
schedule, preparation should be stressed, but experience 
should not be ignored. The worth of experience is, how- 
ever, conditioned on the amount of preparation a teacher 
has previously obtained. Accordingly, for the lowest 
three grades of elementary school certificates no allow- 
ance should be made for experience. In all other cases 
the allowance for experience should vary with the amount 
of preparation; that is, the highest salary allowance for 
experience should go to the best prepared. 

A certification system and state minimum teachers' 
salary schedule when based on the above considerations 
would be, for elementary teachers, approximately as 
follows: 

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CERTIFICATES INITIAL SALARY 

ist Grade- — Graduation from a standard 

normal school $1,000 

2nd Grade — One year in a standard nor- 
mal school $ 800 

3rd Grade — Graduation from a standard 
high school, or four years 
beyond elementary school, 
and not less than 6 weeks of 
professional training $ 80 per mo, 

4th Grade — Three years beyond elemen- 
tary school, and not less 
than 6 weeks of professional 
training $ 75 per mo. 



178 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CERTLFICATES INITIAL SALARY 

5 th Grade — Two years beyond elemen- 
tary school, and not less 
than 6 weeks of professional 
training $ 70 per mo. 

6th Grade — One year beyond elemen- 
tary school, and not less 
than 6 weeks of professional 
training $ 65 per mo. 

7th Grade — Elementary school, and not 
less than 6 weeks of pro- 
fessional training $ 60 per mo. 

The proposed scheme raises two questions — the prac- 
ticability of the present law, which requires at least high 
school graduation of all elementary teachers after 1926, 
and the practicabiHty of the present $75 per month 
minimum salary for all elementary teachers. The law 
requiring high school graduation of all elementary teach- 
ers after 1926 aimed to stimulate teacher preparation. 
It has accomplished much, and largely accounts for the 
unprecedented number of Kentucky teachers in school 
during the summer of 192 1. But with 23 per cent, of all 
elementary teachers now in service on the basis of only 
elementary school training, and with 63 per cent, having 
had less than high school training, the proposed require- 
ments cannot possibly be enforced in 1926, if the schools 
are to be kept open. In 56 counties there are no standard 
high schools that prospective teachers could attend even 



BETTER TRAINED TEACHERS 179 

if they wanted to, and present salaries are not suflicient 
to induce them to get the required training. 

Ordinarily, $75 per month is too high a salary for the 
poorest trained elementary teachers, and it is not enough 
to encourage thorough preparation; for a minimum 
wage of $75, unrelated to a salary schedule, is too apt to 
become the maximum wage. The adoption of a state 
minimum teachers' salary schedule such as suggested 
above would displace the present minimum of $75 per 
month for teachers holding the three lowest grades of 
elementary school certificates, but it would hold before 
teachers much greater incentives for thorough prepara- 
tion. 

MORE AND BETTER TEACHER-TRAINESIG SCHOOLS 

A sound certification system and higher salaries will 
increase the number of well-trained teachers, but Ken- 
tucky will never have an adequate supply of professional 
teachers unless more and better teacher-training schools 
are also created. 

TRAINING OF HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS 

As stated above, 130 high school teachers are 
annually needed to take the place of those who drop out 
at the end of each year.^ To supply this demand, the 

^This estimate does not take account of the number of qualified teach- 
ers needed to take the place of the many unprepared high school teachers 
now in service, or of the needed increase in the teaching force of many 
high schools. 



i8o PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

state university turned out, in 1920-1921, 28 qualified 
graduates. 

The state university under favorable conditions could 
easily double, if not quadruple, its output. To enable 
the university to do this, as well as to train educational 
leaders, such as high school principals, city superinten- 
dents, etc., the department of education should be con- 
verted into a college of education, on the same plane as 
the college of arts and sciences, the college of engineering, 
and the college of agriculture. It should, hke them, have 
its own dean, its own budget, its own courses of study, 
its own professors, and should enroll and control its own 
students. In this college should be centered not only 
the usual work in professional education, but also work 
in the trades, in home economics, and in agriculture sub- 
sidized under the Smith-Hughes law. To provide a 
dean, the necessary increase in faculty, and to strengthen 
the practice schools, both at the university and at Pica- 
dome on the edge of Lexington, would require an increase 
over present expenditures of about $25,000 annually. 

In a survey of high school teacher-training resources, 
the private colleges of the state should also be included. 
These private colleges, or, rather, those belonging to the 
Association of Kentucky Colleges, graduated, in 1920- 
192 1, 89 persons who had pursued some professional high 
school courses. Some of these graduates will undoubt- 
edly enter private high schools, but the majority will 
probably find their way into public high schools. At all 
events, the state university and the private colleges are 



BETTER TRAINED TEACHERS i8i 

now producing annually 1 1 7 high school teachers of fairly- 
acceptable preparation, and the total annual output is 
rapidly increasing. 

Nor are the private junior colleges to be ignored. For 
some years it will be necessary, as pointed out above, to 
certificate high school teachers who have had only two 
years of college work, including professional courses. 
Consequently, the several junior colleges of the state can 
render for the time being an important service in training 
the liigh school teacher of lower grade. 

The state has, therefore, in prospect a fair supply of 
high school teachers, provided the educational work of 
the university is strengthened, and both university and 
private college students are encouraged to prepare for 
high school teaching through the adoption of a sound 
certification system carrying with it an appropriate 
teachers' salary schedule. 

TRAINING OF ELEMENTARY TEACHERS 

The prospect of obtaining an adequate supply of well- 
trained elementary teachers is not so bright. The state 
maintains two schools for the training of white elementary 
teachers — the Eastern State Normal School at Richmond 
and the Western State Normal School at BowHng Green. 
As stated above, approximately 1450 elementary teach- 
ers are needed annually to take the place of those who 
quit teaching each year.^ To meet this demand, the two 

^The estimate does not take account of the number needed to displace 
gradually the 2,108 now in service who have never advanced beyond the 



I»2 



PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 



state normal schools graduated from their advanced 
courses in 1920-192 1, 114 prospective teachers, a half of 
whom were headed for high school positions. 

Educational conditions are now such that with proper 
reorganization and concentration of resources, these two 
schools can do more for the elementary schools than they 
have heretofore been able to do. But if they are to 
accompHsh this large work, their entrance requirements 
should be raised so as to exclude all pupils who have not 
completed the elementary school. Students who merely 
want a high school education should also be excluded, 
for these institutions are teacher-training schools, not 
high schools and not colleges. The present separate and 
disjoined courses — the elementary, the intermediate, the 
advanced — should be abandoned. For elementary school 
entrants, there should be developed a single unified course, 
covering five years of forty weeks each, with opportu- 
nities in the last year or two to speciaHze in primary, 
intermediate, and grammar grade work. For high school 
entrants, there should be developed a two-year course, 
with similar opportunities for specialization, in great part 
independent of the courses for elementary school entrants. 

But these two normal schools, when fully developed, 
will together probably not graduate, in any one year, 
more than 400 well-trained teachers. At that rate, it 
would take the output of seven such fully developed nor- 



elementary school, or to displace gradually the 3,679 who have had some 
high school work but less than a full high school course, nor does it con- 
sider expansion due to increased population. 



BETTER TRAINED TEACHERS 183 

mal schools merely to fill the places of teachers who 
annually leave the service. To establish five new state 
normal schools atone stroke would be ill advised, but the 
next general assembly should make a beginning by estab- 
lishing at least one, and, preferably two. 

The new schools should be put where they will do the 
most good. One should probably be located in the Big 
Sandy Valley, the other in the western part of the state, 
east of the Tennessee River. Under no circumstances 
should they at the outset be standard normal schools. 
They should be designed to prepare teachers for the rural 
schools of the respective sections. A simple, single course 
of study not more than three years in length for elemen- 
tary school entrants would for the present suffice; but the 
course should be thorough as far as it goes and should 
from first to last be controlled by the needs of rural school 
teachers. A graduate desiring to advance further should 
be admitted at Richmond or Bowling Green, and should 
be able to complete an advanced course in two years. 

All high school graduates in the territory of these new 
schools should go to Richmond or Bowling Green. In 
turn, Richmond and BowKng Green should exclude all 
students coming from the fields of the new schools who 
have had less than a full high school course. This ar- 
rangement would work a double benefit. It would en- 
able the new schools to keep to a simple, rural school 
course. On the other hand, it would relieve the two 
older schools of a part of their large enrollment of pupils 
entering directly from the elementary school, increase the 



i84 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

proportion of high school entrants, and enable them to 
devote their resources more exclusively to advanced ele- 
mentary teacher training. 

In both the eastern and western sections, there may 
be a private school, favorably located, which the board 
of management would gladly turn over to the state for 
normal school purposes. In that event, the first cost of 
establishing these two new schools would be small. If 
they must be built new from the ground up, it will prob- 
ably require not less than $150,000 each for buildings 
and $30,000 each annually for maintenance and opera- 
tion. 

Such normal schools as Kentucky may estabhsh and 
maintain at this time cannot reach the great mass of rural 
teachers now in service, or the mass of prospective rural 
teachers. To reach these and to give them at least some 
training, it will be necessary for Kentucky, Hke other 
states, to employ temporary means of teacher training, 
such as county summer schools for teachers and teacher- 
training departments in high schools. 

County summer schools for teachers were introduced 
in Kentucky in the summer of 192 1, Avith great success. 
They should not only be continued, but increased in num- 
ber. To avoid confusion in standards and organization, 
courses of study and methods of instruction, the control 
of these summer schools should be vested in the state 
board of education. This is especially necessary since 
credit on certificates should be given for all work com- 
pleted in them. The state board of education should 



BETTER TRAINED TEACHERS 185 

also be furnished with a fund sufficient to enable it, in 
cooperation with county school authorities, to establish 
such a school wherever needed, without cost to the teach- 
ers attending. The cost to the state of such a school 
will probably never exceed $900 per annum. In most 
cases it will not exceed $450, as counties will gladly share 
the expense with the state. 

If the county summer school is made an estabUshed 
part of the state's teacher-training facilities, the annual 
county institute of not more than six days should be abol- 
ished. It no longer serves a useful purpose. The aban- 
donment of the county institute should, however, not 
prevent the county superintendent from calling his 
teachers together from time to time for conference and 
instruction. 

Most Kentucky rural high schools are now too small to 
make profitable the establishment in them of teacher- 
training departments. There are, however, a few where 
this could be done to advantage. These departments 
would enable rural boys and girls who expect to teach 
to spend half time in their third and fourth years in 
work designed to fit them for rural school teaching.^ Like 
the county summer schools for teachers, high school train- 
ing departments should be under the control of the state 
board of education. Such a department costs approxi- 



^See a study entitled " Teacher Training Departments in Minnesota 
High Schools" published by the General Education Board, 61 Broadway, 
New York, and sent free on application. 



i86 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

mately $2,500 per year. County boards of education 
usually provide the needed classrooms, and divide the 
expense of maintenance with the state. 

For the conduct of county summer schools and the 
establishment of high school teacher-training depart- 
ments, the next general assembly should appropriate 
$50,000 for each of the next two years. No other appro- 
priation of equal amount will reach so many rural teachers 
and affect favorably so many rural children. 

TRAINING OF COLORED TEACHERS 

The problems facing the State Normal and Industrial 
Institute at Frankfort are somewhat similar to those 
facing Richmond and Bowling Green. The time has 
come for this school to exclude all pupils who have not 
completed the elementary school. As there are now 
only 28 public high schools for colored children in the 
state, a high school course should be maintained for 
pupils not expecting to teach. But pupils expecting to 
teach should not be required as now to complete a three- 
year classical high school course before being admitted to 
the regular normal school course. For such elementary 
school entrants, there should be outHned a single, con- 
tinuous five- or six-year course determined entirely by 
the needs of elementary school teachers. A separate 
teacher-training course should also be maintained for high 
school entrants. To make the needed changes in courses 
of study for teachers, to provide more extensive practice 
school opportunities, and to strengthen the faculty which 



BETTER TRAINED TEACHERS 187 

is now inadequate, will require an increased annual 
appropriation for current maintenance and operation of 
not less than $20,000. 

The situation at the West Kentucky Industrial College 
at Paducah is different. Outside the farm recently pur- 
chased, the assets of the West Kentucky Industrial Col- 
lege consist of a small lot and a three-story brick building. 
The building is poorly constructed and of the cheapest 
material. The basement is used for a kitchen and dining 
room; the first floor for the principal's offices and class- 
rooms; the second floor for the principal's home and class- 
rooms; and the third floor for a girls' dormitory. Its 
wooden joists and floors, and its pine and beaver board 
stairways and partitions, constitute a fire hazard of the 
most dangerous sort. 

The program advertised covers the eight grades of 
the elementary school, a three-year high school course, a 
three-year normal school course based on a three-year 
high school course, a business course of indefinite length, 
and miscellaneous courses in pubKc school music and 
piano. The normal school course as such is a myth. 
Such teacher training as is undertaken consists chiefly 
of review courses and a summer school for teachers. The 
total enrollment for the spring term 1920-192 1 was, ele- 
mentary grades, 100; high school grades, 48. 

The school is managed almost as if it were a private 
enterprise. A tuition fee of $8 per term is charged, with 
registration and laboratory fees. The principal also 
sohcits private subscriptions and apparently has little 



i88 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

appreciation of his relations to the state. The ac- 
counts and records of the school are in a deplorable con- 
dition. 

This school should be abandoned in favor of a new 
school to be estabhshed near the western center of colored 
population at a probable cost of $100,000 for building, 
and $20,000 per year for current expenses. If a new 
school is not established, the state should stop its appro- 
priation to the West Kentucky Industrial College, sell 
the farm, and return the property originally deeded to 
the state to its former owner, the principal of the school. 

ADMINISTRATION OF TEACHER-TRAINING SCHOOLS 

Teacher-training schools are an indispensable part of a 
public school system, and they should be under the same 
general management as the public schools themselves — a 
properly constituted state board of education. 

Kentucky recognizes the necessity of this central con- 
trol. The state superintendent is chairman of the man- 
aging boards of the two white normal schools, also chair- 
man of the managing board of the colored normal school 
at Frankfort. It remains to make this central control 
more direct and complete. It may not be practicable at 
this time to bring the Eastern and Western State Nor- 
mal Schools under the control of the state board of 
education, but the management of the colored normal 
schools and such new normal schools as may be estab- 
lished should be brought under its control. Each school 
should still have its own president, but he should be ap- 





Main Building and Practice School of West Kentucky Industrial College 



BETTER TRAINED TEACHERS 189 

pointed by and be responsible to the state board of edu- 
cation. 

To bring all normal schools under a single management 
will give unity to all state teacher-training work, whether 
in normal schools, county summer schools for teachers, 
or high school training departments; it will keep each 
school to the task for which it was estabhshed, relieve 
these institutions from local interference which all too 
often leads them into ill-advised fields of endeavor, and 
prevent unnecessary duplication and unprofitable rivalry. 

SUMMARY 

The recommendations made in this chapter may seem 
drastic; but this is due to the fact that the present situa- 
tion is hopelessly confused. As a matter of fact, the 
above suggestions are based on successful experience in 
other states and simply adapt to Kentucky measures 
already taken elsewhere. Recent sessions of the North 
Carolina legislature have, for example, put through a pro- 
gram similar to the one outhned for Kentucky. Separ- 
ate boards for the smaller normal schools were aboHshed, 
a new certification system and state teachers' salary 
schedule adopted, and teacher -training facilities increas- 
ed. Within the last six years Maryland has done like- 
wise. What these states have done, Kentucky can do. 



XIIL BETTER FINANCIAL SUPPORT 

EDUCATIONAL progress in Kentucky is abso- 
lutely dependent on increased financial support. 
More money is needed for administration and 
supervision, more money for grounds, buildings, and 
equipment, more money for teachers and teacher- training 
institutions. In short, practically every improvement 
needed involves increased outlay. 

INCREASED APPROPRIATIONS FROM THE GENERAL 
TREASURY 

Because of constitutional Kmitations and appellate 
court decisions, certain of the proposed improvements, 
such as additional teacher-training facihties, can only be 
financed through appropriations by the general assembly 
from the general treasury. 

To strengthen present teacher-training institutions and 
to provide additional teacher-training facihties impera- 
tively needed, the general assembly of 1922 should appro- 
priate for new buildings, grounds, and equipment not less 
than $650,000. , This appropriation should be distributed 
approximately as foUows: 

$125,000 each to the Eastern Kentucky and Western 
Kentucky State Normal Schools; 

190 



BETTER FINANCIAL SUPPORT 191 

$150,000 each for two new normal schools for white 
teachers, to be located preferably in the eastern and 
western sections of the state; and 

$100,000 for a new normal school for the training of 
colored teachers, to be located in the center of Negro 
population in the western part of the state. 

The general assembly of 1922 should also appropriate, 
in addition to present appropriations, for the current 
maintenance and operation of teacher-training institu- 
tions, not less than $175,000 annually, to be distributed 
about as follows: 

$25,000 for enlarging and improving the teacher-train- 
ing work of the state university; 

$30,000 each for maintaining and operating the two 
new normal schools for white teachers; 

$50,000 to enable the state to establish, in cooperation 
with the counties, summer training schools for teachers, 
and to establish teacher-training departments in county 
high schools; 

$20,000 for enlarging and improving the work of 
the Kentucky Normal and Industrial Institute, located 
at Frankfort; and 

$20,000 for the current expenses of the new state 
normal school for colored teachers, to be established. 

These appropriations will not provide adequately for 
the training of teachers. At no distant date, additional 
provisions will be required for the training of high school 
teachers, and from four to six additional institutions 
will be required for the training of elementary teachers 



192 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

Nevertheless, the appropriations suggested will meet the 
most pressing teacher-training needs, and that is all that 
can be attempted at this time. 

INCREASED STATE AND LOCAL SCHOOL SUPPORT 

Other improvements, such as better school grounds, 
buildings, and equipment, better trained teachers, 
longer school term, can be financed only through the 
state common school fund and local taxation. How 
much these respective funds will need to be increased to 
provide Kentucky with satisfactory schools, no one can 
tell. But we can estimate approximately how much 
they will have to be increased to raise Kentucky school 
expenditures up to the country-wide average. In view 
of its traditions, its wealth, and the character of its 
people, Kentucky cannot possibly be content with less. 

Rural school expenditures were, in 1920-1921, ap- 
proximately $5,000,000. To bring these up to the coun- 
try-wide average will call for an annual expenditure of 
$10,000,000, or an increase of $5,000,000, The state 
should at least divide with the counties the expense 
that has to be incurred to provide better schools. To 
do so would call for an addition to the common school 
fund of approximately $2,500,000 for rural school pur- 
poses alone. Similarly, to bring the city and graded 
school expenditures up to the country-wide city aver- 
age will require an annual expenditure of $6,650,000, or 
an increase over present expenditures of $1,650,000. 
Should the state bear the same proportion of this in- 



BETTER FINANCIAL SUPPORT 193 

crease as is proposed for the counties, this will involve 
increasing the common school fund by $825,000, or a 
total increase for both cities and counties of $3,325,000. 
If the state school fund should thus be practically 
doubled, under the present method of distribution, ap- 
proximately $1,050,000 will go to the cities and graded 
school districts instead of $825,000. Accordingly, if they 
did their full share, the expenditures of cities and graded 
school districts would exceed somewhat the country-wide 
city average, whereas the counties, owing to the de- 
creased proportion of the increase in the common school 
fund going to them, would, even if they did their full 
share, fall slightly short of the country-wide rural aver- 
age. 

If the counties are to do their part in raising rural 
school expenditures to the country- wide rural average, 
county school taxes wiU need to be increased on the 
average at least 50 per cent. Part of this increase should 
be made mandatory, part of it should be left optional 
with the counties. To this end, the present mandatory 
county school tax of 25 cents on each $100 value of 
assessed property should be raised to 35 cents for teach- 
ers alone, and the maximum which a county board of 
education may levy for all purposes should be raised to 
$1.00. 

To increase the mandatory county school tax levy 
to 35 cents for teachers will in many instances scarcely 
crystallize present practice. Thirty-nine counties now 
levy for all purposes 50 cents, ten, 45 cents, and twenty- 



194 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

six, 40 cents. A few of the less favored counties still 
think, they are too poor to levy a reasonable school tax, 
but the lower tax rate is often found in wealthy counties, 
and these same wealthy counties are content with poor 
schools and a short school term. If a 35-cent school tax 
rate for teachers alone becomes mandatory, then the 
standard school term should be made not less than 180 
days or 9 months, exclusive of holidays. But no county 
should be compelled to levy a school tax in excess of 35 
cents for teachers to maintain a term of this length. 
Such legislation would, however, provide a standard 
school term — a term of not less than 9 months — ^in 
probably 40 counties. 

On the other hand, in approximately 80 counties a 
35-cent school tax for teachers will not provide a standard 
school term. In some counties it will scarcely suffice 
for a six months' term ; in others, for only seven months, 
and in still others for eight months. Therefore, when a 
county levies a 35-cent school tax for teachers, it would 
be well if the state could step in and supplement local 
funds to the extent needed to provide the children of the 
county with a school term of standard length. The con- 
stitution prevents any such equaHzation of educational 
opportunities. Consequently, even if the mandatory 
county school tax is raised to 35 cents for teachers, 
many counties will continue to have a short school 
term. 

To some persons an optional maximum county school 
tax rate of $1 .00 may seem high. But there is probably 



BETTER FINANCIAL SUPPORT 



195 



not a county in the state that can maintain schools of 
good standard on a lower rate. Moreover, county school 
boards will not as a rule levy a higher optional school tax 
than public sentiment will sustain. To provide an op- 
tional school tax levy between 35 cents and $1.00 will 
give progressive counties a chance to forge ahead, and 
thus other counties will be stimulated to support their 
schools more generously. 

To bring their school expenditures up to the country- 
wide city average, it will be necessary for cities and 
graded districts to increase their school taxes, on the 
average, approximately one-sixth. Third and fourth 
class cities now have ample taxing power to enable them 
to raise the needed increased revenues. First and second 
class cities and graded school districts should be sim- 
ilarly empowered. In most instances pubHc sentiment 
is strong enough to sustain the higher levies. 

Even if the state should take as its immediate ob- 
jective raising the usual school expenditures up to the 
country- wide rural average, and city and graded school 
expenditures to the country- wide city average, it would 
not be advisable, even if it were possible, to double 
the state common school fund at one stroke, or to double 
immediately the average county school tax, or to in- 
crease the average of city and graded school taxes too 
abruptly. Except as additional funds are needed to 
lengthen the school term and to employ better trained 
teachers, superintendents, and supervisors, too sudden 
an increase in school revenues would be unfortunate. 



196 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

USE OF TEN PER CENT. DEDUCTION 

The approval by the people of the second constitu- 
tional amendment now before them will free annually 
about $450,000, which can be apportioned without re- 
gard to school population. Unquestionably, this liber- 
ated fund should be used to do away, so far as possible, 
with existing educational inequalities. 

Educational inequahties arise chiefly from differences 
in leadership as exercised by superintendents and super- 
visors, differences in school grounds, buildings, and equip- 
ment, differences in the training of the teachers employed, 
differences in length of term, and differences in the kind 
and grade of schools provided, according as children have 
access to both elementary and high schools or to ele- 
mentary schools only. A fund many times larger than 
that Kberated by the proposed 10 per cent, deduction 
from the common school fund would be required to 
ehminate all the inequahties arising from differences 
in these factors. It is therefore a question of choosing 
the particular inequahties to eradicate with the funds 
available. 

Of all existing inequahties, no others are so significant 
as differences in length of term, in the training of the 
teachers employed, and in high school opportunities. 
Therefore, two-thirds of the funds available can best 
be used to equahze length of school term, if possible up 
to seven months, and to equahze the salaries and the 
training of the teachers employed. The remainder can 



BETTER FINANCIAL SUPPORT 197 

best be used to equalize high school opportunities to 
the point of estabUshing one standard rural high 
school in each county of the state. These liberated 
funds can be used, of course, in the light of past 
appellate court decisions, only for paying teachers' 
salaries. 

The conditions on which the several counties may 
participate in the distribution of these hberated funds 
should be as follows: Each county must levy at least a 
50-cent county school tax. Of this, not less than 35 cents 
should be set aside for teachers' salaries. Having done 
this, each "county should then participate according to 
its needs and the amount of the liberated fund available, 
provided it is still unable to maintain the legal minimum 
term, pay its teachers the legal minimum wage, and 
maintain at least one standard rural high school. But 
no county should participate to the extent of providing 
an elementary school term longer than seven months, 
or salaries above the state standard, or more than one 
standard rural high school. It should also be provided 
that all unexpended portions of this Hberated fund be 
covered at the end of each school year into the common 
school fund. 

Even with a 50-cent county school levy, 35 cents of 
which is set aside for teachers, about 40 counties will not 
be able to provide a school term in excess of six months. 
What it will cost to extend the term in these 40 counties 
to seven months, thus making a seven months' term 
common throughout the state, cannot be exactly stated. 



igS PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

It would probably cost about $300,000. The exact cost 
to the state will ultimately depend on the amount avail- 
able in each county from a 50-cent school levy, when 35 
cents is set aside for teachers' salaries, and on the num- 
ber, training, and experience of the teachers employed. 
For the salaries paid teachers will depend on the state 
certification system and the state teachers' salary sched- 
ule finally adopted. But whatever the cost, this is, 
we believe, the best use that can be made of the first 
two-thirds of the funds Hberated, not only because length 
of school term appears at present from all data in hand 
to be the most important factor in determining the school 
achievements of children, but also for the following ad- 
ditional reason: 

In a state having a sound certification system, and 
a sound teachers' salary schedule, such as Kentucky 
should adopt, the poorest prepared and least experienced 
teacher would get the lowest salary, and the best trained 
and most experienced teacher, the highest salary. Under 
these conditions, counties having only a six months' 
term cannot employ as well trained teachers as coun- 
ties having a standard or nine months' term, or even as 
counties having a seven or eight months' term. Such 
counties cannot pay the salaries well-trained teachers 
are entitled to, and well-trained and experienced teachers 
will not accept six months' appointments. In general, 
the county having the shortest term has the poorest 
trained and the least experienced teachers. Therefore, 
to extend the school term to seven months in all less fa- 



BETTER FINANCIAL SUPPORT 199 

vored counties will place these counties on an equal foot- 
ing in the employment of teachers with all other coun- 
ties having a seven months' term. They will thus be 
able, through the aid of the state, to employ somewhat 
better prepared and more experienced teachers, who, in 
turn, will react favorably on the classroom work in these 
less favored counties. Hence, to equalize the length 
of the school term is also a step toward equalizing the 
quaHty of instruction. Likewise, a longer term and 
higher salaries will encourage the young people of these 
less favored counties to prepare themselves more thor- 
oughly for teaching. 

It is equally impossible to state what it will cost to pro- 
vide one standard rural high school in each of the 56 
counties that either have no high school at all or no 
high school of standard grade. A 50-cent county tax 
levy will enable some of these counties, without special 
state aid, to improve their high schools. In others the 
state will probably not find it necessary to contribute 
more than a half of the instructional cost, while in a few 
counties it will be necessary to contribute for a time most 
of the cost. 

The total instructional cost of a small standard rural 
high school is approximately $6,800, from which may be 
deducted $1,000 received from Smith-Hughes funds. ^ 



'This estimate provides for three teachers of the usual high school 
studies, and for two teachers for home economics, agriculture, and rural 
science. 



200 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

This leaves the local cost for teachers' salaries approxi- 
mately $5,800. Even if the state were called on to con- 
tribute, on the average, one-half of this amount, or 
$2,900, it would be able, with $150,000 at its command, 
to assist not less than 52 counties, and probably more. 
A third of the proposed 10 per cent, deduction will, 
therefore, go a long way toward equahzing high school 
opportunities up to at least one standard rural high 
school in each county of the state. To estabhsh even a 
single standard rural high school in each of the less fa- 
vored counties will do much to stimulate the mental Hfe 
of these communities, and will sooner or later lead to 
the estabhshment of still other high schools by the people 
themselves; without at least one such high school in 
each county, the improvement of their teachers will be 
slow indeed. 

As the common school fund increases, the amount 
liberated under a 10 per cent, deduction will increase 
correspondingly. Even this increased amount will prob- 
ably never be sufficient to equalize entirely the length of 
school term and high school opportunities. A sum much 
larger would be necessary to eradicate many other in- 
equaUties, such, for example, as differences in adminis- 
trative and supervisory efficiency, and differences in 
the training of the teachers employed. Nevertheless, 
to reduce at this time, even to a hmited extent, existing 
inequahties in school opportunities is simple justice and 
will confer inestimable benefits on the rural children of 
the less favored counties. But nothing at all can be 



BETTER FINANCIAL SUPPORT 201 

done because the people failed to ratify Constitutional 
Amendment Number Two. 



SCHOOL BUDGETS AND SCHOOL ACCOUNTING 

Finally, the ordinary increases in public expenditures, 
to say nothing of the other necessary increases, require 
greater care in the preparation of school budgets. Cities 
have given considerable attention to their school bud- 
gets, and the law of 1920 requires a county school bud- 
get; but many cities, most graded school districts, and 
the state department of education have never had bud- 
gets. Aside from specific appropriations for the state 
superintendent's salary and for clerical hire, the amount 
of the remaining expenses of the department is unde- 
termined, being carried in an open account. 

In addition to providing the state department of edu- 
cation with inspectors to supervise the making of budgets, 
the accounting and the business methods of local boards 
of education, the auditor of pubHc accounts should be 
furnished with such inspectors as will enable him to 
keep close watch on the integrity with which public school 
funds are handled. Such supervision of financial re- 
sponsibilities, and of the accounting and business meth- 
ods of boards of education, will save annually thousands 
of dollars of public funds now lost through petty graft 
and inefficiency, correspondingly reduce the cost of 
the schools, and greatly increase the confidence of the 
people in their management. 



202 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 

The state will perhaps be startled by the pre- 
ceding suggestions, all involving greater expenditures. 
But let us pause to consider. The tide of prosperity 
does not rise in countries that pay Uttle for education, 
it rises in those that pay much. A vigorous and indus- 
trious population does not seek a state which has poor 
schools ; it seeks a state which has good schools. Having ' 
so far done less than it should, and less than it could af- 
ford, let Kentucky by a supreme effort now do at least 
what it can afford. The returns will be prompt and 
large. Such action is recommended not only by states- 
manship, but by enlightened selfishness, if one must have 
a lower justification. 



APPENDIX 



TABLE I 
Training of White Elementary Teachers 



TRAINING 


RURAL 1 


GRADED 


CITY 


TOTAL 


No. 


% 


No. 


% 
10.3 


No. 


% 


No. 


% 


Elementary Schcx)l Only . 
Less than full High School 


1,975 


29.9 


79 


54 


3.1 


2,108 


23 1 


3.095 


46.9 


304 


39.8 


280 


lb.9 


3,679 


40.3 


Full High School . . . 


1,156 


17.5 


244 


31.9 


382 


21.6 


1,782 


19.5 


Above High School 


















1 year 

2 years 


209 


3.2 


75 


9.8 


347 


19.7 


631 


6.9 


112 


1.7 


40 


fa.2 


449 


25.4 


601 


6.6 


3 years 


30 


.b 


14 


1.8 


151 


8.5 


195 


?.?. 


4 years or more 


19 


.3 


9 


1.2 


102 


5.8 


130 


1.4 


Total 


6,596 


100 


765 


100 


1,765 


100 


9,126 


100 



TABLE II 
Training of White High School Teachers 



TRAINING 


RURAL 


graded 


CITY 


TOTAL 


No. 


% 


No. 


% 


No. 


% 


No. 


% 


Elementary School Only. 


45 


10.2 


23 


5.3 


16 


2.8 


84 


58 


Less than full High School 


108 


24.4 


63 


14.6 


42 


7.4 


213 


14.8 


Full High School . . . 


116 


26.3 


90 


20.8 


42 


7.4 


248 


17.2 


Above High School 


















1 year 


47 


10.6 


67 


15.5 


58 


10.2 


172 


11.9 


2 years 


. 46 


10.4 


82 


18.9 


78 


13.7 


206 


14,3 


3 years 


38 


8.6 


49 


11.3 


102 


18,0 


189 


131 


4 years or more 


42 


9.5 


59 


13.6 


230 


40.5 


331 


22.9 


ToUl 


442 


100 


433 


100 


568 


100 


1,443 


100 



TABLE III 
Training of Colored Teachers 



Elementary School Only . 
Less than full High School 
Full High School . . . 
Above High School 

1 year 

2 years 

3 years 

4 years or more 

Total 



RURAL 


CITY 


TOT/ 


No. 


% 


No. 


% 


No. 


73 

226 
154 

87 
70 
18 
27 


11.1 
34.5 
23.5 

13.3 
10.7 
2.8 
4.1 


9 
72 
86 

63 

129 

57 

72 


1.8 
14.8 
17.6 

12.9 
26.4 
11.7 
14,8 


82 
298 
240 

150 

199 

75 

99 


655 


100 


488 


100 


1,143 



100 



203 



!-< y 



M 


H U 


►J 

ffl 


22 o 


< 




H 


9 





II 






0(MtO 


00 


NtO 


00 * 




OTAL 
JMBEI 
OF 
UPILS 


>-iC~i-l 


Ol 


lOI> 








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rHLO" 


t> 




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204 



KIND OF 
SCHOOL 



White 

1 Teacher . 

Sub-district 
Graded . 

2 Teacher . 
Sub-district 
Graded . 

3 Teacher . 
Sub-district 
Graded . 

4 Teacher . 
Sub district 
Graded . 

5 Teacher . 
Sub-district 
Graded . 

6 Teacher or more 
Sub-district 
Graded . 

4 Teacher or more 

Sub-district an( 

Graded 

Citv . . 

4th Class 

3d Class 

2d Class. 

LexinRton 

Newport 

Paducah 

Negro 

Sub-district 

City . . 



TABLE V 
Number and Ages of Pupils Tested and the Average Length of the School Year in the Various Schools in Which Tests Were Given 





number of pupils tested 1 


MEDIAN AGES OF PUPILS TESTED 


AVERAGE 

LENGTH 

OF 

school 

YEAR IN 
DAYS 


• 
kind of 


Fifth Grade | 


Seventh Grade 1 


Eighth Grade | 


Fifth i3rade | 


Seventh Grade 


Eighth Grade 




1st 
half 


2d 
half 


Total 


1st 
half 


2d 

half 


Total 


1st 
half 


2d 
half 


Total 


1st 
half 


2d 

hfilf 


Total 


1st 
half 


2d 

half 


Total 


1st 
half 


2d 
half 


Total 


White 

1 Teacher . . 

Sub-district . . 
Graded . 

2 Teacher . . . 
Sub-district 
Graded . . . 

3 Teacher . . . 
Sub-district . . 
Graded . . . 

4 Teacher . . . 




















yrs. mos. 


yrs. jmos. 


yrs. mos. 


yrs. mos. 


yrs. mos. 


yrs. mos. 


yrs. mos. 


yrs. mos. 


yrs. mos. 








1,550 






925 






472 






12—7 






14—4 






14—11 


129 






1,540 
10 






909 
16 






472 






12—7 
11—7 






14—4 
14—7 






14—11 


129 
131 






170 






137 






100 






12—1 






14—1 






15-0 


142 






139 
31 

204 






112 
25 
147 






84 
16 
175 






12—2 
11—9 
12—2 






14—4 
13—1 
13—10 






14—9 
15—3 
14—10 


143 
138 
159 






129 
75 






88 
59 






109 
66 






12—4 
11—10 






14—0 
13—7 






15—0 
14—7 


156 
163 






190 






152 






138 






11-8 






13—4 






14—8 


167 












70 






65 






11—7 






13—5 






14—10 


166 








99 






82 






73 






11—9 






13—3 






14—7 


167 


5 Teacher . . . 






117 






79 






65 






11—8 






13—8 






14—9 


170 


Sub-district . 






117 
134 
■ 30 
104 






79 






65 






11—8 






13—8 






14—9 


170 


















75 






11—7 






13—5 






14-0 


178 


6 Teacher or more 
















18 






12—3 






14—1 






13—7 


160 


Sub-district. 
Graded . . . 










92 






57 






11—5 






13—3 






14—4 


180 


4 Teacher or more 








































Sub-district and 






441 
2,024 
479 
634 
911 
317 
324 
270 






345 
1,647 
402 
487 
758 
279 
224 
255 






278 






11—8 






13—5 






14—7 


171 


Graded . . 
Cily .... 

4th Class . . 

3d Class . . 

2d Class. . . 
l^xington 
Newport . 


1,353 
445 
463 
445 
121 
174 
150 


671 
34 
171 
466 
196 
150 
120 


1,182 
364 
404 
414 
157 
124 
133 


465 
38 
83 
344 
122 
100 
122 


1,004 
339 
340 
325 
148 
76 
101 


307 
11 
48 

248 
81 
94 
73 


1,311 
350 
388 
573 
229 
170 
174 


11—0 
11—0 
11—0 
11—0 
11—8 
11—0 
10—7 


11—8 
12—1 
11—6 
11—8 
12—4 
11—1 
11-5 


11—3 
11—1 
11—3 
11—5 
12-0 
11—0 
10—11 


12—10 

12—11 

12—10 

12—10 

13—1 

12—9 

12—8 


13—5 

13—5 

13—10 

13—4 

13—7 

13—0 

13—2 


13-0 
12—11 
12—11 
13—1 
13—4 
12—9 
12—11 


13—10 
13—10 
13—9 
13—9 
13—10 
13—8 
13—9 


14—2 
15—2 
14—6 
14—2 
14—7 
13—7 
14—0 


13—10 
13—10 
13—10 
13—11 
14—2 
13—7 
13—9 


193 

191 
186 
200 


Negro 
Sub-district . 
City .... 


269 


101 


141 
370 


198 


45 


66 
243 


179 


46 


59 
225 


12—6 


12—9 


12-11 
12—6 


13—10 


1 14—10 
14—4 1 13—11 


14—10 


15—3 


15—9 
14—10 


137 
193 



< 
2 

3 

> 


4) 
•D 

2 

o 

c 

J5 


3 

e2 


50.8 
46.3 




5j 


S- (ON 

SI 5j S8 


•^"s 


1 
o 


Total 

39.1 
38.2 
39.1 

40.9 




CO ^ 


.-HJ5 1 


< 
z 

< 
U 

X 
H 
K 

i 


o 

c 
> 


2 


00 rt CO 




■<* 


rt Cvj rt 

Tj< Tj< tT 


Grade norms 

III B 33.7 VI B 50.9 
A 37.3 A 53.7 

IV B 39.6 VII B 56.0 
A 41.8 A 58.3 

V B 44.9 VIII B 59.6 
A 48.0 A 60.9 




SI 




o ^ 

1> 00 


"1 




•V 
O 


e2 


05 05 •* 

S ^ 5^ 


2! 

CO 


S|| 


d d 

CO rr 






-t^ 1 






>- 

D 
H 

z 

Id 


s 


1 


inin woOTOoooo-^oocMyj tDoicncv] ocoa-.c^coi£!t>o to^ 
t>r-: oiod-*oit>codt-^(Nd dci^co .-Jiri^^'dodTTin int^ 
TtTj< -3' -^ in ■* ■* m in Ti- in m ioininin in in in in in in in tn ■^•<t 


Wj3 


o^tocoinocviin u3 

^Ddcot^dt---* d 
in in in in 05 in in ■* 


^i2 1 oot>co^ino'* lo 
to 5 Tt Tf -^ uri t^ r-4 in (D 
"-i-G 1 w lo ir; in Ln in in ■* 


o 

1 

> 


M 

^ 


ininooq-^Tj-cqco-nqt^coq oi-^toq-n in .-; .^ oq c<i co q co qoq 
■^•^dinLricoiriuoirii>tot>^ ccoo'dod t~^-H,-Hd-<'corot-^ doo' 
Tf<t"* Ti< rf TT ■* -^ Tf -^ Tf -"t 'i' •v"^'*-* rrin in in in in in ■* •^■q" 


SI 


^cMooocopqto in 
ro d d c^i ^ in 00 d 
ininin mining ■» 


1st 
half 

50.7 
51.2 
50.8 
50.1 
52.6 
51.3 
46.1 

44.4 


V 

2 
a 

5 

E 




qqoq.-HC^3incoqoqq-Ht^cq iq-*in<c toqq^oqcvjinco coco 
t^c^t>o6odc>odddoddodod oo'-Hd-^ dco-^oicvidcvio) -"a-r-^ 
CO CO CO CO CO CO CO CO ■* CO CO CO CO co'^'*'* co^^-^^^-^co coco 


,^1 coqt>Ln'.CMcoq 




cootJi-^in-Ht^ c> 
cvirfr-Hr-^in^t-^ in 

■^ -^ -^ -^ "^ -^ CO CO 


X 
[z. 

o 


- 


Sub-district and 

Graded 

City 

4th class . . . 
3d class .... 
2d class .... 

Lexington 

Newport . 

Paducah 

Sub-district . 

City 


White 

1 Teacher . . 
Sub-district . 
Graded . . 

2 Teacher . . 
Sub-district . 
Graded . . 

3 Teacher . . 
Sub-district . 
Graded 


a leacner . 
Sub-district . 
Graded 

5 Teacher . 
Sub-district . 
Graded . . 

6 Teacher or more 
Sub-district . 
Graded 

4 Teacher or more 



205 



2o6 



APPENDIX 



TABLE VII 

Reading and Addition Scores of 13 Year Old Pupils in One-Teacher Schools 
AND IN City Elementary Schools 



grade 


number of 13- 
year OLD PUPILS 
tested IN 


percentage of 

13 YEAR OLD 
PUPILS IN DIF- 
FERENT GRADES 
IN 


READING SCORES 
IN 


ADDITION 
SCORES IN 




I 

Teacher 
Schools 


City 
Schools 


1 

Teacher 
Schools 


City 
Schools 


1 

Teacher 
Schools 


City 
Schools 


1 

Teacher 
Schools 


City 
Schools 


3 

A 

5 
6 

7 
8 


56 
136 
269 
122 
178 

72 


46 
89 
216 
261 
436 
455 


6.7 
16.3 
32.3 
14.6 
21.4 

8.7 


3.0 
5.9 

14.4 
17.4 
29.0 
30.3 


25.7 
31.1 
37.4 
38.9 
43.7 
48.3 


31.6 
37.1 
40.9 
46.6 
50.5 
56.0 


5.5 

7.8 

9.3 

10.2 

12.0 

13.9 


8.0 
10.3 
12.6 
13.9 
15.3 
16.5 


Total 


833 


1,503 


100.0 


100.0 


38.1 


48.8 


8.9 


14.4 



o 



a 

o 
H 

SI 



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a 



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M 0^ U5 ;c t^ o w -^ ;o d d ;d ^ Ti< t> i-< d 






(O t- » N •^ CO »-l Tf05 

lo ic Tf CO d c»^ d cod 



en oco -loo) 
tf> -cot-^ -odd 



■* 00 00 CO •* tC 10 

in Lo Tt d to d CO 



incoO'-iCMt^^O MO". 

to-^c^joic^pjcod cod 



oocoocqooo 
c^q c»j d •* d d -< 



oiocot^cNjinio 
oi cvi oi d cvj d t~^ 



in -^ c^j C'j -H ffj 00 
CO •a' CO CO •* N pj 



in 00 
dd 



d -dpj 



•ooo 
■dw 



to >H -< "(t i-H 00 00 
CO ■* CO CO ■* CJ C^) 



oqq^Lnocco^cjcocNj'^ri' Tf^oic^q to o oi t^ in oi ^ co cooo 
t^t^ot^f-coo)050iO)0)dd dddd d-nddMc^Mcvi dt^ 



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CO C^ 01 CO CO -t CM 



C^J 00 !0 O! CO ■* O) —I ^ 

ooioowod r- d 



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6- 



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• ■ • o^j: 

c0T}>m(Orj«O 1^2 

207 



©J3i* 



208 



APPENDIX 



TABLE IX 
Summary of Elementary School Spelling Scoresi in Kentucky 





KENTUCKY 


KIND OF 


Fifth Grade 


Seventh Grade 


Eighth Grade 


SCHOOL 


















1st 
half 


2d 
half 


Total 


1st 
half 


2d 
half 


Total 


1st 
half 


2d 
half 


Total 


White 


















1 Teacher . . . 






48.2 






32.7 






44.6 


Sub-district . 






48.3 






32.6 






44.6 


Graded 






39.5 






36.8 








2 Teacher . . . 






50.6 






37.4 






44.1 


Sub-d4strict . 






50.7 






38.5 






40.8 


Graded . . . 






50.0 






32.6 






61.6 


3 Teacher . . . 






55.8 






31.0 






47.8 


Sub-district . 






52.3 






29.5 






43.1 


Graded . . . 






61.9 






33.2 






55.6 


4 Teacher . . . 






55.3 






37.6 






51.9 


Sub-district . 






52.0' 






29.5 






45.9 


Graded . . . 






58.4 






44.6 






57.3 


5 Teacher . . . 






52.5 






37.9 






52.7 


Sub-district . 




















Graded . . . 






52.5 






37.9 






52.7 


6 Teacher or more . 






71.1 






41.1 






51.7 


Sub-district . 






71.3 






28.2 






38.6 


Graded . . . 






71.0 






44.2 






55.9 


4 Teacher or more 




















Sub-district and 




















Graded . 






59.4 






38.8 






52.0 


City 


64.0 


68.4 


65.5 


42.6 


49.0 


44.4 


61.1 


62.7 


61.4 


4th Class . . . 


66.9 


69.7 


67.1 


44.1 


54.6 


45.1 


61.7 


61.2 


61.7 


3d Class . . . 


66.0 


64.3 


65.5 


47.3 


46.6 


47.2 


65.0 


66.9 


65.2 


2d Class . . . 


59.0 


69.8 


64.5 


36.8 


48.9 


42.3 


56.3 


61.8 


58.7 


Lexington . 


73.8 


79.8 


77.5 


47.3 


61.1 


53.3 


61.7 




61.7 


Newport 


59.9 


68.0 


63.7 


37.5 


53.9 


44.8 


63.1 


74.0 


69.1 


Paducah 


46.1 


56.4 


50.7 


21.8 


32.5 


26.9 


45.1 


45.8 


45.4 


Negro 




















Sub-district . 






38.9 






23.7 






38.7 


City .... 


45.2 


61.3 


49.6 


31.4 


40.1 


33.0 


42.2 


51.7 


44.1 


Grade norms 






73.0 






58.0 






73.0 



iWords taken from Ashbaugh-Iowa Spelling Scale. 



< 

2 

3 
> 


o 

c 

V 

> 


:3 

e2 


13.6 
14.8 
14.4 




in 




SI 


iri irt 






1 


3 


11.2 
11.2 
10.2 

13.8 


SI 






< 
z 

i 

u 

s 
S 

z 


o 

c 
> 


3 
^ 


CO t~ o 

Cvj CJ CO 




■* 




■-( .-1 l-l 


Grade norms 

III 9.5 

IV 12.3 
V 13.7 

VI 15.4 
VII 15.8(?) 
VIII 17.0 


*^ 


Si 












1 

2 



3 


ITS <£> ■* 

oi o> O 


-: 






'-' 


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13 


LOLfJ 00 t> p 00 00 t> -< 5£) O) -< i-j-^Ln-^ Ln p CO t^ C^ !> -; -^ 

coco coroLrico'c»jn>rtco'<tLri lOLninLri ^a-^ctoino'-cf-'TT 


ClCO 

coco 


SI 


■^int>Tr c<! -^ 


■* 


-US 


q Tj; (X) fj t> a; ^ 
(C U2 iri to (C id •* 


o 

CO 


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1 


^ ^ p 00 00 o rt Tf CO -"t <£) O) pj c^jcnoCTi 00 CO in CO rq -H o) c^i 
c^^ic^c^ic^jc^i,-ococ^icoc^^coco co-*in^ coiniriinindinco 


CO-H 

-^co 


ss 


tt o p rj 00 oi CO 
in lo o in in in CO 


01 
CO 


21 


CO CO CO c^] cj ai -H 
in in iri in id in CO 


00 

cvi 


(U 

U 

o 


1 


■*Ti;cococviooco<r!coot>^t~ t^oo-a-o ' in <?i txi t^ -h .^ o oo 
oioioiddddo: -4-^6-^6 drJcvico ^wc^ic^ico-^-fl-d 


oio 


SI 


t> a; Tj; i> in CO ^ 

CO CO CO CO -3- 'T -^ 


O 


1^^ 


ic 00 LO p CO r-; in 
c^i cvi eg ro CO CO d 


00 

d 


8 




.... ,. 1 


While 

1 Teacher . . 
Sub-district . 
Graded . . 

2 Teacher . 
Sub-district . 
Graded . . 

3 Teacher . . 
Sub-district . 
Graded . . 

4 Teacher . 
Sub-district . 
Graded . . 

5 Teacher . . 
Sub-district . 
Graded 

6 Teacher or more . 
Sub-district . 
Graded . . 

4 Teacher or mor< 

Sub-district 

and Graded . 

City .... 

4 th class . . 

3d class . . . 

2d class . . . 

Lexington 

Newport . 

Paducah . 

Sub-district . 
City .... 



209 






o 



(N 


rH 


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in 




CO 



(DID ^cot>poq^'*Ti;rttD (omcorH oq i> n t)< t-. 05 n c^ 





s| 






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Lfi Lfi Tf LO ID ID >-H 


CO 


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21 






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2 


-c3 


C0C0MCTlCTl<DO00M(MLn<r!<£) 

i>i>o6c»ododoiodoiCTiodoJod 


8.6 
11.3 
11.3 
11.3 


t> i> 00 N CO 00 to •-; 


in 00 





SI 






i> ID p --^ ■-; ■* 01 

.-!Ni-<NCONai 


o5 



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6^ 



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•r o-c: 



•C-o 



3J3 ra C3 



to c o.y 



•SrH N CO ■^ W «3 •* .■£>-^COPQ S't/^O 

fe G fe: 

210 



APPENDIX 



211 



20 





OS I 


„ 


OH 


X 


I P 


M 


f-ifc 


hJ 


tn OS 


CU 


^ 


^8 



o5 



2 Si si 






s 5 "> 



■S-2 



c« 






I ra B) 

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m,ci2 



|2| 



«_, •T}iot^'TM-*-<r~O0» • O) 01 0> CO 00 1^ ■* 



0)0) •toocotooo^oaiMoiM • r-. —i o — > t^ m co ^o 



»a5 -cRaxiscxjooodoomSoo • 00 00 00 00 F^ (o t^ S 



MN • CVJ -H t>. t~. O N 0> (D O) N ■ N^D Ol •* N — I00(D 



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tGH3 •r2t>Ln'^ific2oot>ooQ -oirio-^idinoiM 



00 -Mtn 



0000 •LOM'-iMf~OOCv5!COCO ■ M in >-i •* t- ;0 -rf N 



W^J —iCV] — I .^ r-( 



min ;Nc^a : ■* in ^h po co d •-< ;-Hdi-H ;dddd 



„ i St) o S'O 

uT3»i u-U" i-Xiii uXJii i_-D I* i-'C <" 



efl cfi M 



212 



APPENDIX 








Si 


Tj< Tf C^ CO r-l 


■* 




8 


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d 


C£ 


c)) 


CD (^ CO CO to 


m 


< 








(U 


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1 

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1^ rH i-l i-l I-H i-H 


rt . 








b. 


•as 


•-I000 01CO 


M 




S m 


inrtco-<)'(N 


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IS 


rt-itrHrHrt 












JJ 


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00 




o 


QCONMM 


■* 


^ 


tr> 


Ifl 


V 

S"., 


OrHLOOOMin 


T 


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Eg, 
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^c^titAutti 




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Ui 






H 


Is 


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in 




S m 


t^rtLntcoo 


■^ 




§ S 


-llO--lrt,-l 






|h 








h 


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05 




8 


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CO 


O 


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LO (OtCHCUD 


in 


gi 


5oi>i>tDt> 


p 




• to LO Lf3 lO LO 
^ 


1 








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UT3 






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00 






MCVIrHMOl 


o 




COIXNNIM 






1^ 








J) 


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in 




8 


■^ oi 00 od d 


6 


u 


<fi 


lOLnLnintD 


in 


0) 


CO 




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•=«., 


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<o 




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li 


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CO ^ r-l rH rH 1-4 




S 


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b 


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ii 




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1 






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S u 



KIND OF SCHOOL 



OF Time 



D 20 MONTHS 



-ddi- 
ion 
md 
ub- 
:ac- 
ion 



Kentucky 

Rural High. 

City High . 

2d class . 

3d " 

4th " 

North Carolina 

Rural High . 

Small City High 

Large City High 

Virginia 

Rural High. 

City High . 

Hotz Standard 



P-4 
5.5 



7.1 
B.3 



Equa- 
tion 
and 
For- 
mula 



5.5 
6.5 

6.4 
6.7 

6.0 
5.7 
5.8 



FROM 21 TO 24 MONTHS 



Num- 
ber 
of 
Pupils 
Tested 



24 



24 



10 
26 



Addi- 
tion 
and 
Sub- 
trac- 
tion 



5.8 



5.8 



5.7 
4.4 



Equa- 
tion 
and 
For- 
mula 



5.9 



5.9 



5.0 
6.3 



TABLE XV 
Summary of Algebra Scores of High School Pupils Who Have Studied Algebra Varying Lengths of Time 









FROM 3 TO 5 MONTHS 


FROM 6 TO 8 MONTHS 


FROM 9 TO 10 MONTHS 


FROM 11 TO 14 MONTHS 


FROM 15 TO 20 MONTHS 


FROM 21 TO 24 MONTHS 


KIND OF SCHOOL 


Num- 
ber 
of 
Pupils 
Tested 


Addi- 
tion 
and 
Sub- 
trac- 
tion 


Equa- 
tion 
and 
For- 
mula 


Num- 
ber 
of 
Pupils 
Tested 


Addi- 
tion 
and 
Sub- 
trac- 
tion 


Equa- 
tion 
and 
For- 
mula 


Num- 
ber 
of 
Pupils 
Tested 


Addi- 
tion 
and 
Sub- 
trac- 
tion 


Equa- 
tion 
and 
For- 
mula 


Num- 
ber 
of 
Pupils 
Tested 


Addi- 
tion 
and 
Sub- 
trac- 
tion 


Equa- 
tion 
and 
For- 
mula 


Num- 
ber 
of 

Pupils 
Tested 


Addi- 
tion 
and 
Sub- 
trac- 
tion 


Equa- 
tion 
and 
For- 
mula 


Num- 
ber 
of 
Pupils 
Tested 


Addi- 
tion 
and 
Sub- 
trac- 
tion 


Equa- 
tion 
and 
For- 
mula 


Kentucky 
Rural High 
City High 
2d class 
3d •• 
4th " 
North Carolin 
Rural High 
Small City 
Large City 
Virginia 
Rural High 
City High 
Hotz Standard 


a 

^ig 

Hig 


h 
h 


430 
396 
70 
71 
255 

152 
49 
179 


3.6 

4.4 
4.6 
4.5 
4.3 

3.3 
2.9 
3.6 

3.4 
5.0 


4.2 
4.9 
5.9 
5.0 

4.7 

3.2 
3.1 
3.3 

3.7 
4.9 


11 
40 
25 
15 

130 
16 
179 


3.8 
5.0 
4.2 
5.5 

3.7 
5.4 
3.9 

5.2 
5.6 
6.8 


4.8 
6.0 
5.9 
6.1 

4.2 
2.8 
4.5 

4.6 
6.1 
7.1 


32 
103 
103 

60 
78 


3.8 
6.8 
6.8 

4.5 
3.9 

5.9 
5.0 
7.9 


4.8 
6.4 
6.4 

4.7 
1.5 

5.8 
5.1 
7.8 


354 
262 

66 
196 

154 
109 
337 


5.5 
5.8 

5.2 
6.2 

4.9 
4.3 
5.4 


5.3 
6.5 

5.9 
6.6 

4.9 
5.1 
5.5 


84 
180 

81 
99 

95 

108 
70 


5.4 
6.5 

7.1 
6.3 

5.6 
4.8 
5.2 


5.5 
6.5 

6.4 
6.7 

6.0 
5.7 
5.8 


24 

24 

10 
26 


5.8 

5.8 

5.7 
4.4 


5.9 

5.9 

5.0 
6.3 



APPENDIX 



213 





6! (« 












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PER 

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OF 

PUPILS 

UP TO OR 

ABOVE 

NORMAL 


tncoecoo 
oddodoi 


N 


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•<* 


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M 


CO C*5C0 ^ 


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=!S^ 












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135 fej^ 


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H 


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Nioirico 


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25 fe^ 


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